1. Amma Asante was born on 13 September 1969 and is a British filmmaker, screenwriter, former actress, and Chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts, who was born in London to parents from Ghana.
24 Facts About Amma Asante
1. 2.
Amma Asante was a childhood friend of model Naomi Campbell, whom she met when they were seven years old.
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Amma Asante was born in Lambeth, London, to Ghanaian parents: her mother was an entrepreneur who owned her own African cosmetics and grocery shop, and her accountant father received qualifications to work in the United Kingdom.
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Amma Asante attended the Barbara Speake Stage School in Acton, where she trained in dance and drama.
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Amma Asante appeared in the "Just Say No" anti-drugs campaign of the 1980s and was one of nine Grange Hill children to take it to the Reagan White House.
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Amma Asante gained credits in other British television series, including Desmond's and Birds of a Feather, and was a Children's Channel presenter for a year.
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Amma Asante's career started when she first attended a performing arts school that allowed her to draft her first sitcom script.
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Amma Asante founded a production company, Tantrum Films, where she wrote and produced two series of the BBC Two drama Brothers and Sisters.
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Amma Asante used Tantrum Films to make her directorial debut with a feature film, A Way of Life.
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In February 2005, Amma Asante was named The Times newspaper's Breakthrough Artist of the Year and was nominated for Best Newcomer at both the Evening Standard and London Film Critics award ceremonies.
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That same month at the BAFTA Film Awards, Amma Asante received the Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement by a British Writer, director, or Producer in Their First Feature Film, which she has since cited as being a big break in her career.
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Amma Asante has developed film projects in both the UK and US.
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Amma Asante's second feature film, Belle, is a historical romance.
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Amma Asante placed the girl into the care of his uncle Lord Mansfield and his wife in late 18th-century London.
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Amma Asante uses her personal experiences to debate the social and structural issues of her time, such as gender roles and abolitionism.
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At the 2014 Miami International Film Festival, Amma Asante was awarded The Signis Award as director of Belle.
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The film A United Kingdom, which Amma Asante directed in 2016, features David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike portraying the main protagonists of the real-life story, who marry, and with the coming independence of Bechuanaland, decide to move back there, despite British opposition to their relationship.
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Amma Asante is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.
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Amma Asante directed "Useful", episode 3 in series 3 of Hulu streaming service's series The Handmaid's Tale.
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Amma Asante is set to direct a film adaptation of the book The Billion Dollar Spy, starring Mads Mikkelsen.
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Amma Asante was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to film.
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In 2018, Amma Asante became the first woman to receive the British Urban Film Festival honorary award from actress Dona Croll for outstanding contribution to film and television.
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Amma Asante is a past elected member of BAFTA Council and a past BAFTA Film committee member.
24.
Amma Asante travelled to US for an anti-drugs campaign, and then met with former First Lady Nancy Reagan.