Page 67 - 2018 Powerlist

Sir Lenny Henry
Actor, writer, campaigner

Sir Lenny Henry is one of Britain’s best-known and most Media, Publishing& Entertainment
beloved performers.
His career began in comedy, but he is also acclaimed as
a stage, film and TV actor, has penned several books, been
a BBC Radio 1 DJ, and put his head above the parapet as a
high-profile campaigner for charity and diversity.
His most recent performing role, as a Chicago mobster
modelled on Hitler and Donald Trump, in a revival of
Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Donmar
Warehouse, was hailed as a ‘tour de force’ by critics. He also
joined the smash hit ITV thriller Broadchurch for its third
and final instalment earlier this year.
In 1988 he founded Red Nose Day, the now annual
comedy-fest to support the charity Comic Relief. The charity
has since raised more than £1billion for good causes at
home and abroad.
Off-stage he is one of the country’s leading advocates in
the campaign for increased diversity in British television
and the arts. Speaking at the Sheffield Documentary
Festival, he hit out at broadcast industry diversity schemes,
such as Creative Diversity Network’s Diamond initiative,
as failing to go far enough to increase BME representation.
He called for broadcasters to be forced to publish data
on a programme-by-programme basis rather than an
anonymised snapshot. Femi Oguns
Last year, he repeated calls for part of the licence fee to be Agent, founder and CEO of
ring-fenced to boost diversity and earlier this year he called Identity Theatre school
on people to speak out against racism when they witness it,
in the feverish post-Brexit era.
Sir Lenny was awarded the Alan Clarke Award for Angered by the lack of roles for black actors, Femi didn’t
outstanding contribution to television at the 2016 Bafta attend a panel on diversity or resign himself to playing gang
Awards and made a fellow of the Royal Television Society. members or muggers – he decided to do something about it.
In 2003, with a budget of £200, he set up the Identity Theatre
school.
He started with 10 pupils but in the space of three short
years there was such demand for talent from the school
– casting agents from The Royal Shakespeare Company,
the national theatre and other leading producers began
clamouring to attend its actor showcases – that he set up
a talent agency. In the process he quietly shelved his own
acting aspirations to concentrate on promoting his talent.
Today Femi has established himself as one of Britain’s
leading agents and his roster of actors are causing waves
across Hollywood. His clients include John Boyega (Star
Wars: The Force Awakens), Malachi Kirby (Roots) and
Melanie Liburd (Game of Thrones). But you are just as likely
to find him in Hackney, where he launched his school, as
you are in Cannes mixing with A-Listers.
He has a division in Los Angeles which works with
Hollywood heavyweights William Morris Endeavor
Entertainment and ICM, casting black British actors in
leading Hollywood productions.
His London offices are run by a staff of 40 and he now
has three acting schools, including one in Birmingham
with more than 400 students catering for people from all
backgrounds. There are plans to open schools in LA and
New York.
Femi also co-runs a production company with Boyega
called Upper Rooms Productions. In 2014, he was awarded
an MBE for services to the acting industry.

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