Amma Asante

Amma Asante (born 13 September 1969) is a British filmmaker, screenwriter, former actress, and Chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts, who was born in London, England, to parents from Ghana.

Her love for the film industry started when she received her first role in BBC's children's television drama series Grange Hill.

She 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.

She gained credits in other British television series, including Desmond's (Channel 4) and Birds of a Feather (BBC 1), and was a Children's Channel presenter for a year.

Asante was previously married to producer Charlie Hanson.

She is now married to Søren Pedersen, former spokesman for European police in The Hague.

Asante's career started when she first attended a performing arts school that allowed her to draft her first sitcom script.

Later, she became a child actress and made her first appearances on television in Grange Hill and Desmond's.

In her late teens, Asante left acting and worked in screenwriting with a development deal from Chrysalis.

Asante wrote and produced the 1998 BBC Two television series Brothers and Sisters, starring David Oyelowo.

She was a childhood friend of model Naomi Campbell, whom she met when they were seven years old.

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.

Asante attended the Barbara Speake Stage School in Acton, where she trained in dance and drama.

She founded a production company, Tantrum Films, where she wrote and produced two series of the BBC Two drama Brothers and Sisters (1998).

Asante used Tantrum Films to make her directorial debut with a feature film, A Way of Life (2004).

It was developed and financed through the UK Film Council and produced by Peter Edwards, Patrick Cassavetti and Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award winner Charlie Hanson.

Her first film, A Way of Life, focused on the life of a single mother, played by Stephanie James.

It details the reality of a woman who recounts the suicidal death of her mother and the presence of foster care.

It also introduces her brother Gavin, played by Nathan Jones, who was also taken into foster care.

As a young 17-year-old, Leigh Anne (Stephanie James), finds it difficult to get by, especially due to the medical expenses that her daughter Eli Williams, incurred.

It also touches on the theme of cultural conflict, with their neighbour Hassan Osman (played by Oliver Haden), who had been the victim of a beating, after being accused of reporting Leigh Anne to social services for child neglect.

The film has been described as "one of the most warmly received UK titles in the London Film Festival in the autumn and a harrowing drama in social realist mode".

In November 2004, the London Film Festival awarded Asante the inaugural Alfred Dunhill UK Film Talent Award.

On 17 January 2005, The Times said: "She is one of the most exciting prospects in British cinema to emerge in the past 12 months."

In February 2005, 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.

That same month at the BAFTA Film Awards, 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.

The 2005 Miami International Film Festival awarded A Way of Life as Best Dramatic Feature in World Cinema and the FIPRESCI prize (International Federation of Film Critics prize) for Best Feature Film.

The Wales Chapter of BAFTA gave A Way of Life four of its top awards in April 2005, including Best Director and Best Film.

Additionally, Asante was awarded for this film by the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain and the Mar del Plata Film Festival in Argentina.

Asante has developed film projects in both the UK and US.

Her second feature film, Belle (2013), is a historical romance.

The film is based on Dido Elizabeth Belle, and depicts an illegitimate mixed-race daughter of an enslaved African woman and a Royal Navy captain.

He placed the girl into the care of his uncle (and Belle's great-uncle) Lord Mansfield and his wife in late 18th-century London.

In this film, Dido was being raised by a white aristocratic family and acquired many intellectual skills.

She uses her personal experiences to debate the social and structural issues of her time, such as gender roles and abolitionism.

Dido's role in the film has been said to be "a way that is usually denied to historical black women".

The film stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw as the eponymous Dido Elizabeth Belle, Tom Wilkinson as Lord Mansfield, who as a justice, ruled on two important cases related to slavery; Emily Watson as his wife and Miranda Richardson, Sarah Gadon, Tom Felton, and Sam Reid.

Belle was the third project to receive investment from Pinewood Studios as part of its Pinewood Films initiative, established to help fund and support British independent films.

The film was shot on location in the Isle of Man, London and Oxford.

It was distributed through Fox Searchlight Pictures.