Disillusioned with the stereotyped roles I was afforded as an actor, I turned my sights to creating work, making my first short film ‘Losing Heart’ in 1997 as Producer, Actor. ‘Losing Heart’ was directed by long-time Mike Leigh collaborator Marion Bailey, affording me the opportunity to learn how to utilise the Master Improvisation technique favoured by Mike Leigh.
On the back of this successful Arts Council-backed short, I raised the finance for my first feature film ‘Offending Angels’ as Writer, Director, Producer, Actor. my ambition was to create worthwhile roles for non-white actors, making no mileage from their skin colour; something I wasn’t seeing at all in the British film industry. Offending Angels was picked up at Cannes Film Market, by Ardent International.
A Screenwriting Masters at the National Film & Television School followed, where I also made the controversial short, ‘Opportunist’, picked up by FoxTV. As Writer, Director, Producer, I’ve since made two feature-length documentaries, ‘Finding Fink at Fifty’, about hedge-fund Supremo Lord Stanley Fink and ‘The Penthouse at St Pancras’. I then made feature-drama ‘Greys Inbetween’. I was subsequently invited to direct a series of adverts by Linney Productions for the BrightHouse winter campaign, Halloween, Christmas and New Year.
I have served as Jury for BAFTA, the Sony Radio Awards for Drama, the RTA Television Awards and Vevey Film Festival and have been campaigning for many years regarding representation and diversity in the media. Otherwise, I’ve also taught Radio Playwriting for the British Council in Nepal and subsequently ran filmmaking courses out there with native Oscar nominee, Subarna Thapa.
Acting Agent: Lisa Willoughby | 0207 734 0657 | lisa@thebwhagency.co.uk