Leslee Udwin

Leslee Udwin
Udwin in 2010
Born	][1]
Occupation(s)	Filmmaker, Human Rights Activist
Spouse	Kim Romer (born 1959)
Children	2
Awards	BAFTA, Peabody, Amnesty International Media Award, Royal Television Society Award
Website	thinkequal.org

Leslee Udwin (born 1957)^[2] is a Jewish British filmmaker,^[3] actress, director, producer, human rights activist, as well as being the founder and Executive Chair of Think Equal. ^[4]

Early life

She was born in Savyon, Israel, to a European Jewish family with roots in England, Germany and Lithuania. At the age of about nine, she went with her family to South Africa where they spent the next ten years. Her parents were religious Jews, but at the age of about thirteen, she rebelled against Judaism, particularly the morning prayer called Shacharit, in which men say, "I thank God that he did not make me a woman".^[1][5]

Career

While her father wanted her to be a lawyer, Udwin supported herself working in theatre and teaching while at university; in her first year she was raped, a fact she told nobody about at the time.^[1] She began her career as an actress at the Space Theatre in Cape Town, one of the only two integrated (‘multi-cultural’) theatres in South Africa, playing in the Duchess of Malfi and Stephen Poliakoff’s Hitting Town. Not wishing to work in ‘whites-only’ theatres, her work possibilities in South Africa were limited, so she moved to London^[6] at age twenty-one.^[1] There she acted in plays at the Royal Court, National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and Cheek By Jowl playing roles like Lady Macbeth, Isobel in The Mayor of Zalamea, Masha in Chekhov's Three Sisters, Nora in A Doll's House, etc. On screen she appeared in the BBC Shakespeare Series production of The Merchant of Venice (1980).^[6] and played popular character Joy Slater in the 1992/3 BBC soap opera "Eldorado"

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^[7]), Udwin worked as a script consultant with Ransley, and also starred as harassed tenant Vicki, alongside Jonathan Hyde as evil landlord Vincent Stott.^[8][9] Udwin also played Hyde's on-screen second wife in the contemporaneous historical legal drama series Shadow of the Noose

After ten years as an actress^[1] 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.^[6][9] She started her production company, Assassin Films, in 1989.^[10] 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).^{[11][12][13][7]}

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."^[1]

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 Leslee to found UK and US education charity Think Equal, of which she is the CEO.^[14] Leslee 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.^[15][7] She has also been named Safe's Global Hero of 2015, and a Global Thinker by Foreign Policy.

Think Equal

Think Equal

Founded	2015
Focus	International Human Rights Early Childhood Development Initiative
Chief Executive	Giulia D’Amico
Website	https://thinkequal.org/

Think Equal is a global education initiative to introduce social and emotional intelligence learning to children in early years education between the ages of 3–6 years.^[16] Think Equal was founded in 2015 by CEO Leslee Udwin.^[17][18] Think Equal is based in 14 countries across 5 continents and has been developed by academics such as Sir Ken Robinson, Ashoka and Brookings fellow Dr. Urvashi Sahni, Barbara Isaacs from Montessori UK, and Dr. Marc Brackett and Dr. Robin Stern from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, who evaluate the program's impact.^[19][20][21]

Think Equal patrons include Meryl Streep,^[22] Lord Rumi Verjee,^[23] Sir Ken Robinson, Indrani Goradia, Jack Sim, Joyce Banda, Vicky Colbert, Pratibha Sachdev, Dr Ponatshega Kedikilwe & Dr. Marc Brackett.^[24]

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.^[25]

Awards and honours

Leslee Udwin has received the following national and international honours, listed by the date they were awarded:

• 2019: UN Women for Peace Activist Award^[19][26][27]
• 2019: UN Association Global Citizen Award^[28]
• 2016: Peabody Award for India's Daughter^[29]
• 2016: Amnesty International Media Award for Best Documentary^[30]
• 2015: The New York Times No. 2 Most Impactful Woman of 2015 (after Hillary Clinton)^[31]
• 2015: Swedish Anna Lindh Memorial Prize for Human Rights ^[32]
• 2015: Safe Magazine Global Hero of 2015 ^[33]
• 2015: Foreign Policy's Global Thinker ^[34]
• 2000: London Film Critics Circle Awards, British Film of the Year for East is East^[35]
• 2000: BAFTA Award for Best British Film for East is East
• 2000: British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Film ^[36]

Personal life

When not on assignment, Udwin lives in London.^[37] She is married to her Eldorado co-star, Kim Romer, who played Per Svendsen.

References

1. Faleiro, Sonia (2 April 2015). "Interview: Leslee Udwin". Granta Magazine (130).
2. "Leslee Udwin". Company Check.
3. "Nirbhaya Documentary, Banned in India, Premieres in US; Meryl Streep, Frieda Pinto Attend". Press Trust of India. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
4. "Our team".
5. Samuel, Patrick (22 February 2011). "Exclusive Interview With Leslee Udwin - West Is West (Movie, 2010) Exclusive". Static Mass Emporium. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
6. "Sassy Supports: Leslee Udwin, producer of documentary 'India's Daughter'". Sassy Hong Kong. 26 April 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
7. Restauri, Denise (5 June 2017). "Women Take Action: How One Unbelievable Event Launched A Powerful Career". Forbes. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
8. "Screen Two: Sitting Targets - BBC Two England". Radio Times. BBC Genome. 19 March 1989. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
9. "Leslee Udwin interview". Spotlight. British Council Film. 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
10. "Leslee Udwin Profile". LinkedIn. Archived from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
11. "Leslee Udwin Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
12. "Delhi rape documentary-maker appeals to Narendra Modi over broadcast ban". The Guardian. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
13. "Careers in Film: East Is East producer Leslee Udwin". film4.com. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
14. "ThinkEqual". ThinkEqual. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
15. "Ministers received filmmaker Leslee Udwin". Government.se. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
16. "ThinkEqual | ThinkEqual". thinkequal.org. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
17. "Independent Lens: India's Daughter". www.peabodyawards.com. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
18. Feitelberg, Rosemary (12 February 2019). "U.N. Women for Peace to Honor Ben Stiller, Naeem Khan, Leslee Edwin, Albert Pujols". WWD. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
19. Wintermeyer, Lawrence. "Eliminating Gender And Racial Bias In The World: Leslee Udwin Wins UN Women For Peace Award". Forbes. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
20. "Craig S. Bailey, PhD". Yale School of Medicine. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
21. "OpenIDEO - Early Childhood Innovation Prize - THINK EQUAL - Empowering Change Through Education in the Early Years". challenges.openideo.com. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
22. Communications, Kharé (14 March 2016), In Dialogue With Meryl Streep | Think Equal, retrieved 21 April 2020
23. "Think Equal Dinner With Meryl Streep". The Rumi Foundation. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
24. "Our Patrons & Ambassadors | Think Equal". thinkequal.org. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
25. "THINK EQUAL a valuable partner in catalyzing national unity and reconciliation says Ambassador Perera | Sri Lanka". www.un.int. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
26. "2019 Awards Luncheon NS". UN Women for Peace Association. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
27. Leslee Udwin - 2019 UN Women for Peace Association Awards Luncheon, 4 March 2019, retrieved 20 December 2019
28. Udwin, Leslee (25 October 2019). "In Houston Texas last night on "UN Day" honoured to have been awarded the UN Association Global Citizen Award.pic.twitter.com/jEmwYRuAnF". @lesleeudwin. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
29. "Independent Lens Wins 2016 Peabody Award for India's Daughter | Blog | Independent Lens | PBS". Independent Lens. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
30. "Marie Colvin and Sue Lloyd-Roberts celebrated for dedication to human rights reporting at Amnesty Media Awards". www.amnesty.org.uk. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
31. Restauri, Denise. "Women Take Action: How One Unbelievable Event Launched A Powerful Career". Forbes. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
32. Regeringskansliet, Regeringen och (10 September 2015). "Ministers received filmmaker Leslee Udwin". Regeringskansliet. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
33. "Leslee Udwin". Indian Summer Festival. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
34. Silverman, Amanda. "A Deadly Double Standard". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
35. "Leslee Udwin". IMDb. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
36. "LESLEE UDWIN AYUB KHAN DIN BEST COMEDY Editorial Stock Photo - Stock Image | Shutterstock". Shutterstock Editorial. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
37. Faleiro, Sonia (2 April 2015). "Interview: Leslee Udwin". Granta Magazine (130). ^{[verification needed]}

External links

Media related to Leslee Udwin at Wikimedia Commons

• ThinkEqual
• Leslee Udwin at IMDb