Micheal Ward, the star of Ari Aster’s COVID satire Eddington, is facing five rape-related charges in London.
Ward, 27, was charged with two counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
In a statement on Friday, London Metropolitan Police said all five charges were related to the same woman. The woman alleges Ward assaulted her in January 2023.
Born in Jamaica and raised in London, Ward is best known to American audiences for appearing in Aster’s new COVID-era film Eddington alongside big names like Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, and Pedro Pascal.
However, he has a more established career in the UK, where he starred in the Netflix crime drama Top Boy from 2019 to 2022. Ward won the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2020 after starring in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe.
Immediately after prosecutors announced the charges, Olivia Bell Management, which represents Ward in the UK, told Deadline it had dropped the actor.
In the U.S., he is represented by talent agency CAA, which has not yet released a statement on the charges. The Daily Beast has contacted CAA for comment.
In a statement to the Guardian, Ward strongly denied the charges against him, but said he had “cooperated fully with the police throughout their investigation and will continue to cooperate.”
“Proceedings are now ongoing, and I have full faith that they will lead to my name being cleared,” added the actor.
Ward is now set to appear before the Thames Magistrates’ Court on August 28.
