Amma Asante
| Amma Asante | |
|---|---|
Amma Asante
|
|
| Born |
13 September 1969 Lambeth, London, England |
| Occupation | Screenwriter, film director, actress |
| Notable work |
A Way of Life Belle |
| Spouse(s) | Soren Pedersen |
Amma Asante (born 13 September 1969) is a British screenwriter, film director, and former actress. She wrote and directed A Way of Life (2004). Her second film as a director was Belle in 2013.
Asante was born in London in 1969, to Ghanaian parents; her father was an accountant, and her mother ran a deli. Asante attended the Barbara Speake stage school in Acton, London, where she trained in dance and drama. She began her film and television career as a child actress, appearing as a regular in the British school drama Grange Hill. She appeared in the "Just Say No" 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 (BBC1), and was a Children's Channel presenter for a year.
In her late teens, Asante left acting and worked in screenwriting with a development deal from Chrysalis. She founded a production company, Tantrum Films, and wrote and produced two series of the BBC2 drama Brothers and Sisters.
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. On 17 January 2005, the Times said of Asante, "She is one of the most exciting prospects in British cinema to emerge in the past 12 months."
In November 2004, the London Film Festival awarded Asante the inaugural Alfred Dunhill UK Film Talent Award. In February 2005 Asante was awarded the The Times's Breakthrough Artist of the Year and nominated for Best Newcomer at both the Evening Standard and London Film Critics award ceremonies.
...
Wikipedia