10 February 2019
Newsdesk
EE is proud to announce Letitia Wright as the winner of the EE Rising Star Award in 2019.
The EE Rising Star Award is the only publicly-voted award presented at the EE British Academy Film Awards, and each year it continues to shine a spotlight on the outstanding up and coming acting talent that has captured the imagination of the public and film industry over the past 12 months.
Letitia Wright was one of five exceptional actors nominated in recognition of their performances and identified as a true star in the making. The other nominees were: Jessie Buckley, Cynthia Erivo, Barry Keoghan and Lakeith Stanfield.
LETITIA WRIGHT is an Emmy®‐nominated actress who gained worldwide attention for her role as Shuri alongside Lupita Nyong’o and Chadwick Boseman in Marvel’s Black Panther. The film was released by Walt Disney Studios in February 2018 and has since grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide to become the third highest‐grossing U.S. film release of all time. Wright is currently starring on London’s West End in The Convert at The Young Vic Theatre. Next up she is set to join John Boyega in the Mike Cahill‐directed adaptation of the Katie Khan novel Hold Back the Stars, after which she will lead the John Legend‐produced Le Brio, a remake of 2017 French comedy‐drama. Most recently, Wright reprised her role as Shuri in Avengers: Infinity War and will take on the role again in the yet to be titled Avengers film, set for release May 3, 2019. Previously, Wright appeared in the Black Museum episode of Netflix’s Black Mirror, the critically acclaimed science fiction anthology television series, for which she was nominated for an Emmy® Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in A Limited Series or Movie.
Luke Evans (Beauty and the Beast) and Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) took to the Royal Albert Hall stage to present this year’s EE Rising Star Award.
Pete Jeavons, Director of Brand Marketing at EE, said: “Huge congratulations to Letitia Wright for winning this year’s EE Rising Star Award. This category continues to be an incredibly important part of our long-standing relationship with BAFTA, shining a light on up and coming talent and giving the fans the chance to get involved with the awards. Many of our winners have gone on to achieve incredible success in some of the world’s biggest films and we can’t wait to see what this year’s rising star does next.”
The EE Rising Star Award was created in honour of Mary Selway, the highly respected BAFTA-winning casting director whose career spanned three decades and over ninety films before she died in 2004. She worked with notable directors such as Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski, Clint Eastwood and Ridley Scott, contributing to the creation of some of the silver screen's most memorable characters.
A stellar line up of industry experts formed the jury who selected the five nominees for the 2019 EE Rising Star Award, hand-picking from a list of hundreds suggested by BAFTA members. Actors Rosamund Pike and Richard Madden joined this year’s panel, which was chaired by Alison Thompson, Co-President of Cornerstone Films. The group also included Lucy Bevan, industry-leading casting director for Murder on the Orient Express, Cinderella and Pirates of the Caribbean; Leo Davis, renowned casting director for The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, Layer Cake and The Constant Gardener; and Georgina Lowe, acclaimed producer for Peterloo, Happy-Go-Lucky and Another Year. The jury was completed by prominent film and arts journalists, including broadcaster Edith Bowman and film critic Anna Smith.
The EE Rising Star was voted for by the British public via the EE website. For more information on the EE Rising Star Award please visit: www.ee.co.uk/bafta
The official ceremony hashtag is #EEBAFTAs.
