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, OBE (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. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various 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 spanning over six 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.
Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, Christie is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has appeared in six films ranked in the British Film Institute's BFI Top 100 British films of the 20th century, and in 1997, she received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement.
Naomie Melanie Harris is a British 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).
Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin, is a Trinidadian-British actress, singer, presenter, author, businesswoman, 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.
Sarah Caroline Sinclair, known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. Known for her comedic and dramatic roles in film and television, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Emmy Awards, three British Academy Television Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.
Lesley Ann Manville is an English actress 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 the latter earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Viola Davis is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and two Tony Awards, she is the sole African American to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017, and in 2020, The New York Times ranked her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century.
Anne Voase Coates was a British film editor with a more than 60-year-long career. She was perhaps best known as the editor of David Lean's epic film Lawrence of Arabia in 1962, for which she won an Oscar. Coates was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for the films Lawrence of Arabia, Becket (1963), The Elephant Man (1980), In the Line of Fire (1993) and Out of Sight (1998). In an industry where women accounted for only 16 percent of all editors working on the top 250 films of 2004, and 80 percent of the films had absolutely no women on their editing teams at all, Coates thrived as a top film editor. She was awarded BAFTA's highest honour, a BAFTA Fellowship, in February 2007 and was given an Academy Honorary Award, which are popularly known as a Lifetime Achievement Oscar, in November 2016 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Phyllida Christian Lloyd, is an English film and Theatre director and producer.
Ama K. 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 includes Azali (film) which is Ghana first ever selection for the Oscars; and the 2015 Netflix movie Beasts of No Nation directed by Cary Fukunaga and stars Idris Elba. She plays the mother to lead young actor Abraham Attah who plays Agu. Abebrese 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, OBE is an English costume designer. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design eleven times, winning three awards for the movies A Room With A View (1985), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), and Cruella (2021). She has also been nominated nine times for a BAFTA Award, winning four awards for A Room With A View, Gosford Park (2001), Mad Max: Fury Road, and Cruella. Beavan also received a Tony Award nomination for Best Costume Design for the play Private Lives.
Nicola Shindler is a British television producer and executive, and founder of the independent television drama production company Quay Street Productions, having founded and run Red Production Company from 1998 to 2020. She has won eleven BAFTA TV Awards.
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 the 2000 film Gladiator. She has also received nominations for BAFTA awards, Saturn Awards, and Satellite 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.
Leyla Hussein is a Somali-born British psychotherapist and social activist. She is the founder of Dahlia project, one of the co-founders of the Daughters of Eve non-profit organization and a Chief Executive of Hawa's Haven. In 2020, Hussein was elected Rector of the University of St Andrews, making her the third woman and first woman of colour to hold this position.
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.
David Adetayo Olusoga is a British historian, writer, broadcaster, presenter and film-maker. He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester. He has presented historical documentaries on the BBC and contributed to The One Show and The Guardian.
The 75th British Academy Film Awards, also known as the BAFAs, 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)