The Screen Nation Awards are back for a 12th year to celebrate the cream of the crop of black British and global talent. We'll be profiling all of the nominees – first up are the talented up-and-comers up for the Emerging Talent award.
Damson Idris – City of Tiny Lights, Snowfall, Casualty (Actor)
Damson Idris is a British television, theatre and film actor. He discovered his passion for acting whilst studying at Brunel University where he attained a BA Honors degree in Theatre, Film & Television studies. Damson's television debut came on hit comedy series Miranda, shortly after followed with guest leading long-running BBC medical series' Doctors and Casualty as well as BBC's City of Tiny Lights. At the end of last year, it was announced that he would star in FX's new drama Snowfall, which was created by the legendary director John Singleton.
Daniel Ezra – Undercover (Actor)
Daniel Ezra began his career in television with the award winning BBC Drama Murdered By My Boyfriend. Since then, he has starred in The Village, Vera, No Offence, The Missing and series 2 of Prey alongside Philip Glenister.
Eric Kofi-Abrefa – Humans, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man (Actor)
Eric Kofi-Abrefa is an actor, known for Fury (2014), Snowden (2016) and Tight Jeans (2008). Experienced on the stage also, his credits include Wildefire (Hampstead Theatre), The Amen Corner (National Theatre) and Choir Boy (Royal Court Theatre).
Jessica Creighton – BBC News, Final Score, Women’s Football Show (Sports Presenter)
Described as “a breath of fresh air” to sports broadcasting, Jessica Creighton has worked at some of the biggest sporting events on the globe, with some of the world’s most prestigious broadcasters. Beginning her career as a BBC trainee, Jessica was soon promoted to Olympic Sports Reporter where she produced films on British and international athletes and their journeys to, and during, the 2012 Games. Jessica’s instrumental work on diversity saw her named 2015 Journalist of the Year by the Women’s Sports Trust. She was also included on the 2015 Football Black List, which celebrates influential figures in football from the black community, and was featured as a rising star of the TV industry by Broadcast Magazine. For the 2016 Olympics, she broadcast to an audience of millions across the BBC as a live TV reporter.
As a freelancer, Jessica has presented BT Sport’s Women’s Super League Review Show and reported for Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) at the Youth Olympic Games in China. Such is her growing reputation as a charismatic reporter and presenter, she’s also featured on popular BBC programmes The One Show, Final Score, BBC Breakfast and the Women’s Football Show.
Jessica currently presents sports bulletins on BBC Two’s Victoria Derbyshire Show and the BBC News Channel.
Mahalia Belo – Ellen (Director)
Mahalia Belo graduated from NFTS with short Volume, which premiered at Sundance and won the British Independent Film Award for Best Short Film. She was subsequently featured on the cover of Screen’s ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ issue.
Mahalia went on to direct ‘Ellen’, a single 90 minute drama for Channel4 starring Jessie Barden, which premiered to a great critical response. She was recently awarded Breakthrough Talent at the 2017 Bafta TV Craft Awards.
Rege-Jean Page – Roots, Spark (Actor)
Regé-Jean Page is a British-Zimbabwean actor whose upbringing saw him travel across Africa, Europe, the US, and the UK before he finally settled in London. An alum of the National Youth Theatre and trained at the Drama Centre London, Regé is best known for Roots, Survivor, and Waterloo Road.
Tolu Adeoye – BBC London News (News Reporter)
Tolu Adeoye began as a Trainee Journalist in 2010, and has since risen to the role of Senior Broadcast Journalist – News Reporter for BBC London News.
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Taking place on Sunday 7th May and set to be streamed on Facebook Live, the 12th annual Screen Nation Awards ceremony will be held in the impressive Ballroom of the newly multi-million pound refurbished Park Plaza Riverbank, overlooking the Thames at the Albert Embankment. To see the full list of nominees click here, and to buy tickets to attend the event, follow this link.
