About Prentice Onayemi
Prentice Onayemi’s lyrical style and selective narration choices have quickly set him apart as a major talent in the audiobook world. Among his best loved performances are all of author Paul Beatty’s audiobooks, including The Sellout, which won a Man Booker Prize and earned Onayemi recognition as an Audie Award finalist for Best Fiction narrator.
Onayemi is drawn to interesting narration projects and promising literary debuts. In 2016, he performed Imbolo Mbue’s acclaimed debut novel Behold the Dreamers about a young Cameroonian couple making ends meet in New York when the 2008 recession hits. The same year, he was in the award-winning multi-cast performance of Christodora, a debut novel by Tim Murphy featuring an eclectic mix of characters in Manhattan’s East Village. More recently, he performed 2017’s Beasts Made of Night by debut author Tochi Onyebuchi, a Nigerian-influenced fantasy about a 17-year-old with dark magical powers. Prentice Onayemi’s performances are praised as vivid, haunting, and able to depict different cultural worlds within a single story.
Before he started performing audiobooks, Prentice Onayemi first found voice-over work narrating English language learning programs. He holds a BFA in Drama from NYU and has also become known for his performances in downtown NYC passion projects and Broadway mainstays. On the screen, you might have seen him in the hit series House of Cards.
Onayemi’s creative pursuits dovetail with his business ventures. A graduate of Columbia University’s MBA program, he’s co-founded a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, NY, and a nonprofit that develops creative self-expression workshops for survivors of armed conflicts and natural disasters. He has also worked on research studies and policy recommendations to develop the performing arts in Queens, NY, and has co-authored case studies about artists as social entrepreneurs for Harvard Business Review. His latest project is Grains of Salt, an organization that helps creatives strike a balance between art and contributing to societal development.
Listener Favorites
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Behold the Dreamers
- A Novel
- By: Imbolo Mbue
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5,520
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Performance4,962
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Story4,949
A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream—the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy New York Times Bestseller Winner of...
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Overhyped
- By Rochelle on 08-27-16
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Beasts Made of Night
- By: Tochi Onyebuchi
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall168
-
Performance151
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Story151
"...The beginning of a great saga..." —NPR.org "This compelling Nigerian-influenced fantasy has a wonderfully unique premise and lush, brilliant worldbuilding that will consume you until the last page."—Buzzfeed "...Unforgettable in its darkness, inequality, and magic." —VOYA, Starred...
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Amazing narrator and worldbuilding
- By Jesse on 07-18-20
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New Boy
- William Shakespeare's Othello Retold: A Novel
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall71
-
Performance58
-
Story57
Tracy Chevalier brings Shakespeare’s Othello—a harrowing drama of jealousy and revenge—to a 1970s era elementary school playground. Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, diplomat’s son Osei Kokote knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day—so he’s lucky to hit...
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Disappointed
- By Olga Rozzell on 07-15-21
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Christodora
- A Novel
- By: Tim Murphy
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Christa Lewis, Suzanne Elise Freeman, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall1,529
-
Performance1,403
-
Story1,407
In this vivid and compelling novel, Tim Murphy follows a diverse set of characters whose fates intertwine in an iconic building in Manhattan's East Village, the Christodora. The Christodora is home to Milly and Jared, a privileged young couple with artistic ambitions. Their neighbor, Hector, a Puerto Rican gay man who was once a celebrated AIDS activist but is now a lonely addict, becomes connected to Milly and Jared's lives in ways none of them can anticipate.
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Ambitious
- By Billye Kay on 11-10-19
-
Behold the Dreamers
- A Novel
- By: Imbolo Mbue
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5,520
-
Performance4,962
-
Story4,949
A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream—the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy New York Times Bestseller Winner of...
-
-
Overhyped
- By Rochelle on 08-27-16
-
Beasts Made of Night
- By: Tochi Onyebuchi
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall168
-
Performance151
-
Story151
"...The beginning of a great saga..." —NPR.org "This compelling Nigerian-influenced fantasy has a wonderfully unique premise and lush, brilliant worldbuilding that will consume you until the last page."—Buzzfeed "...Unforgettable in its darkness, inequality, and magic." —VOYA, Starred...
-
-
Amazing narrator and worldbuilding
- By Jesse on 07-18-20
-
New Boy
- William Shakespeare's Othello Retold: A Novel
- By: Tracy Chevalier
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall71
-
Performance58
-
Story57
Tracy Chevalier brings Shakespeare’s Othello—a harrowing drama of jealousy and revenge—to a 1970s era elementary school playground. Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, diplomat’s son Osei Kokote knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day—so he’s lucky to hit...
-
-
Disappointed
- By Olga Rozzell on 07-15-21
-
Christodora
- A Novel
- By: Tim Murphy
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Christa Lewis, Suzanne Elise Freeman, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall1,529
-
Performance1,403
-
Story1,407
In this vivid and compelling novel, Tim Murphy follows a diverse set of characters whose fates intertwine in an iconic building in Manhattan's East Village, the Christodora. The Christodora is home to Milly and Jared, a privileged young couple with artistic ambitions. Their neighbor, Hector, a Puerto Rican gay man who was once a celebrated AIDS activist but is now a lonely addict, becomes connected to Milly and Jared's lives in ways none of them can anticipate.
-
-
Ambitious
- By Billye Kay on 11-10-19
Performance Highlights
- Behold the Dreamers
- The Sellout
- Power & Beauty