Amanda Berry | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Amanda Sonia Berry 20 August 1961 Darlington, County Durham, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Chief Executive, The Royal Foundation |
Amanda Sonia Berry, CBE (born 20 August 1961) is the chief executive officer of the Royal Foundation. She also served as CEO of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) between December 2000 and October 2022. [1]
Berry was born in Darlingon, County Durham, but raised in Richmond, North Yorkshire; [2] [3] Berry is the daughter of Tom (owner of a dry cleaning company in Richmond, North Yorkshire) [4] and Anita Berry. She is the eldest of three children.
Berry read business studies and graphic design at Newcastle Polytechnic, [4] and took a student job in the press office of Thames Television. [4]
In 1982 Berry left her studies to continue at Thames Television and then took a job at theatrical agency Duncan Heath Associates Ltd (which later became part of the International Creative Management (ICM) Group). [4] [5] Clients included Christopher Lee, Ian McShane, Paul McCartney and David Bowie. [6] She left in 1988 [4] as a director with the company.
In 1989, Berry worked at London Weekend Television (LWT) as a researcher for light entertainment. [5] From 1990, Berry worked extensively as a producer and development executive for Scottish Television Enterprises, [5] both in Glasgow and in London, where her credits included three BAFTA awards ceremonies.
Berry joined BAFTA in October 1998 [4] as Director of Development and Events. [7] She became its chief executive in December 2000, [8] and is widely acknowledged to have transformed the fortunes of the Academy in 2001, bringing the date of its annual Film Awards ceremony ahead of the American Academy's Oscars. [4] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] The move boosted BAFTA's international profile at a time when it was eclipsed by other organisations in the awards season, [15] and studios and industry commentators now rate BAFTA's Film Awards as one of the most reliable predictors of the Oscars, [4] [9] [16] [17] as well as being the pre-eminent film awards outside the annual Hollywood ceremony. [18]
Berry was appointed an OBE for services to the Film Industry in HM The Queen's 2009 Birthday Honours List. [19]
In 1999, Berry was named Media Boss of the Year by recruitment company Pathfinders [20] [21] [22] and Woman of the Year. [23] In 2010, she was named in the Telegraph's 100 Most Powerful Women in Britain: Entertainment, Media and Sport. [24] In 2012, she made The Times' British Film Power 100, [25] the Women in Film and Television Power List, [26] and the Women: Inspiration & Enterprise's Power 50. [27] In 2013, she topped the 'film' list of the Guardian Culture Professionals Network and Hospital Club's h.club100, their 'annual search for the most influential, innovative and interesting people in the creative and media industries'. [28] In 2015 she was named in The Daily Telegraph's 10 Most Powerful Women in the Arts [29] and received the BKSTS Outstanding Contribution to the Industry award. [30] Berry regularly features in the Evening Standard's London's 1,000 Most Influential People [31] [32] [33] and in Debrett's 500, "a recognition and celebration of Britain’s 500 most influential people". [34] [35] In 2017 she was named in The Times' Film Power List, [36] the British newspaper's ranking of "the star players with global clout". In 2018 she was named in the Variety 500, "an index of the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global $2 trillion entertainment industry". [37]
Dame Judith Olivia Dench is an English actress. Widely considered one of Britain's greatest actors, she is noted for her versatility, having appeared in films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her numerous roles on the stage. Dench has garnered various accolades throughout a career that spans seven decades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Television Awards, six British Academy Film Awards, and seven Olivier Awards.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual award ceremonies, BAFTA has an international programme of learning events and initiatives offering access to talent through workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures, and mentoring schemes in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Naomie Melanie Harris is an English actress. She started her career when she was a child, appearing in the television series Simon and the Witch in 1987. She portrayed Selena in the zombie film 28 Days Later (2002), the witch Tia Dalma in the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films, Winnie Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013), and Frances Barrison / Shriek in Sony's Spider-Man Universe film Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021). She portrayed Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond films Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021).
Sandy Powell is an English costume designer. In a career spanning over three decades, she is recognized for her prolific work across independent films and blockbusters. She has received numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, and two Costume Designers Guild Awards. She has been the recipient of various honorary awards, including the BAFTA Fellowship in 2023. Powell was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours for services to costume design.
Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin, is a Trinidadian-British actress, singer, presenter, author and politician. She is known as presenter of children's programmes such as Play School, Play Away, Jamboree and Fast Forward. On 28 June 2010, Lady Benjamin was introduced to the House of Lords as a life peer nominated by the Liberal Democrats. In 2024, she was honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship award for her services to television.
Thelma Schoonmaker is an American film editor, best known for her collaboration over five decades with director Martin Scorsese. She has received numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and four ACE Eddie Awards. She has been honored with the British Film Institute Fellowship in 1997, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2014, and the BAFTA Fellowship in 2019.
Lesley Ann Manville is an English actress. She is known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films Grown-Ups (1980), High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010), and Mr. Turner (2014). She has been nominated for two British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Another Year (2010) and Phantom Thread (2017), with her performance in the latter earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Andrea Patricia Arnold OBE is an English filmmaker and former actress. She won an Academy Award for her short film Wasp in 2005. Her feature films include Red Road (2006), Fish Tank (2009), and American Honey (2016), all of which have won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Arnold has also directed four episodes of the Amazon Prime Video series Transparent, as well as all seven episodes of the second season of the HBO series Big Little Lies. Her documentary Cow premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and played at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival.
Viola Davis is an American actress and film producer. Her accolades include both the Triple Crown of Acting and EGOT. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017. The New York Times ranked her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century (2020). Davis will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2025.
Jesse Leslie Hardcastle OBE was a British arts administrator who was controller of the British Film Institute's (BFI) National Film Theatre (NFT) complex on London's South Bank from its early beginnings through to his retirement in the mid 1990s.
Diana Julie Harris was an English costume designer. In a career spanning over four decades, she is recognized for her prolific work across film and television. She won an Academy Award in the category Best Costume Design for the film Darling (1965).
Ama Konadu Abebrese is a British-Ghanaian actress, television presenter and a producer. She was born in Ghana and raised in West London in the United Kingdom. She won the 2011 Best Actress in a Leading Role at the AMAA Awards for her stellar performance in Sinking Sands. Her film credits include Azali, the first Ghanaian nominated for an Academy Award, and the 2015 Netflix movie Beasts of No Nation. She is listed among Africa's Top 20 Actors and Actresses by FilmContacts.com. She is the narrator and a producer on the Blitz Bazawule film The Burial of Kojo, which was acquired by Array and was released on Netflix.
Jenny Beavan is an English costume designer. In a career spanning over four decades, she is recognized for her prolific work across stage and screen. She has received numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, and an Olivier Award. Beavan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2017.
Gareth Elwin Neame is a British television producer and executive. As an executive at the BBC, Neame presided over the development of the dramas Spooks, State of Play, Bodies, Hustle, New Tricks and Tipping the Velvet. He was executive producer of the historical drama series Downton Abbey and originally proposed the idea to its writer and creator Julian Fellowes. He is a recipient of the Emmy, BAFTA and Golden Globe awards.
Janty Yates is a British costume designer for film and television. In 2001, she won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Gladiator (2000). She has also received nominations for BAFTA Awards, Satellite Awards, and Saturn Awards. She is a frequent collaborator with English director Ridley Scott, having worked with him fourteen times as of 2021.
Anna Margaret Home is an English television producer and executive who worked for most of her career at the BBC.
Susan Indiaba Wokoma is a British actress, writer and director. She is best known for her roles as Edith in the Enola Holmes films, Cynthia in Chewing Gum, Raquel in the E4/Netflix show Crazyhead and Fola in Cheaters. Wokoma was listed as one of Europe's Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2017 and named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit by an international jury the same year.
Siobhan Reddy is a South African-Australian video game executive. She is the studio director of Media Molecule, a video game development studio based in Guildford in the United Kingdom, most famous for their debut title LittleBigPlanet.
Ruth Irene Caleb is a British film and television producer. She was appointed head of drama at BBC Wales in the mid-1980s, making her the BBC's first ever female head of drama. She is known for her work on productions that include; Pawel Pawlikowski's Last Resort, the BBC1 series Judge John Deed and Saul Dibb's Bullet Boy.
The 75th British Academy Film Awards, also known as the BAFTAs, were held on 13 March 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2021. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, accolades were handed out for the best feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality that were screened at British cinemas in 2021.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)