Product Code Database
Leslee Udwin (born 1957) is a British filmmaker, actress, director, producer, human rights activist, as well as being the founder and executive chair of Think Equal.
In 1989, she set a legal precedent in the High Court of England against criminal landlord Nicholas van Hoogstraten who harassed her and her fellow tenants in their Rent Act-protected apartment block in West London. Her real life two-and-a-half year battle against Hoogstraten was subsequently fictionalised by Peter Ransley in the 1989 TV drama Sitting Target (19 March 1989) for BBC 2's Screen Two anthology series, directed by Jenny Wilkes. Having initially urged BBC head of drama Mark Shivas to make the programme (feeling that this optimistic story should inspire as many people as possible), Udwin worked as a script consultant with Ransley, and also starred as harassed tenant Vicki, alongside Jonathan Hyde as evil landlord Vincent Stott. Udwin also played Hyde's on-screen second wife in the contemporaneous historical legal drama series Shadow of the Noose.
After 10 years as an actress she wanted more: "It was an exciting career, but working as an actress was not enough for me – I began to want to choose and not just interpret the stories being told." This led her to become a producer. She started her production company, Assassin Films, in 1989. Her productions include the films East is East (1999), Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution (2007), and West is West (2010), and the documentary India's Daughter (2015).
Udwin also co-produced Who Bombed Birmingham? (1990, starring John Hurt) for Granada TV, about the prosecution and wrongful imprisonment of the Birmingham Six. The morning after the broadcast, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told the House of Commons: "We will not have trial by television in this country."
Her feature film East is East promoted tolerance and the celebration of diversity as between the Asian and British communities. It won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the BAFTA Awards, and was declared Best Comedy Film at the British Comedy Awards.
Her time spent creating award-winning documentary India's Daughter led Udwin to found UK and US education charity Think Equal, of which she is the CEO. Udwin was voted by the NY Times the No 2 Most Impactful Woman of 2015 (second to Hillary Clinton), and has been awarded the prestigious Swedish Anna Lindh Human Rights Prize (previously won by Madeleine Albright) in 2015. She has also been named Safe's Global Hero of 2015, and a Global Thinker by Foreign Policy.
Think Equal patrons include Meryl Streep, Lord Rumi Verjee, Sir Ken Robinson, Indrani Goradia, Jack Sim, Joyce Banda, Vicky Colbert, Pratibha Sachdev, Dr Ponatshega Kedikilwe and Dr. Marc Brackett.
Think Equal has been mandated by the Sri Lankan government and is set to reach 90% of 3 to 4 year olds in the country.
|
|
