For Ashley Madekwe, this weekend is going to be exciting. The 37-year-old will be attending the BAFTAs{
In normal, pre-pandemic times, Ashley would have been straight back to London to attend the ceremony, but she tells Grazia she'll be spending the night in LA, where she usually resides. (Ashley is currently living in Canada with her husband, Iddo Goldberg, who is filming in Vancouver.) 'I'm going to go to Los Angeles so I can be where the dresses are,' Ashley says excitedly, 'I still want to look good for my virtual ceremony! And I can celebrate with my team and my friends in LA.'
The actress found out the good news with her husband, but after that, she rushed to FaceTime her mum and dad, and then tell her team. (She says her manager cried several times.) 'I ignored everybody until I spoke to my mum and dad,' Ashley says. 'And then I spoke to my agent and manager who's just been with me for forever, and have worked so hard. I feel like you know so much of their job is telling me know when I don't get things, so it's so nice to share the joy with them as well.'
Ashley's nomination comes after career credits including Bambi in Secret Diary of a Call Girl and social climber Ashley Davenport on the ABC drama series Revenge. So, how does it feel to now be recognised with a BAFTA nomination, too? 'It feels great,' Ashley says. 'Obviously you don't do the work expecting to be nominated for anything but there's nothing more lovely than being recognized by your peers and the people in your industry.'
In 2020, the BAFTAs (quite rightly) received backlash for their nominations, as not one person of colour was nominated for an acting award. The resulting criticism the caused academy to scrutinise and, most importantly, change way they create their shortlist. And as a result, this year, the academy unveiled their most diverse list of nominations yet.
Speaking to us, Ashley tells us that she was 'overjoyed' to speak to the academy last year as part of one of their reviews. '[BAFTA] had different committees of people and they they took the time to speak to people and listen to their concerns and their misgivings,' she says. 'I did a panel with maybe 15-20 other actors, and BAFTA really listened, they asked questions - and we were able to be really frank with them about our misgivings about the process.'
A lot of the positive change, Ashley says, is because the panel are now viewing films they perhaps previously wouldn't have, meaning they're now recognising more talent. 'I think the changes they've implemented have been really impactful because it feels like this year, a different type of film is getting recognition,' the actress adds. 'Previously, I think only really big Hollywood movies were getting the love. And it was just getting harder and harder for small British film to get seen. There were so many films for the voters to watch. And they just changed the way voting happens this year. So I think they've done the work. And that's great.'
While BAFTA have made efforts to change, as the actress adds, more work needs to be done 'industry wide' to improve diversity. 'I think that the focus in front of the camera is great, because as performers we always want to perform,' she says. 'But behind the camera is where we can make real impactful changes. We need to have people of colour - not just one colour as well, different colours - behind the camera and in leadership decisions. They need to be in the room when the stories are being made.'
The first BAFTA ceremony will be happening on Saturday April 10, which will be followed by the main ceremony on Sunday April 11. Both will be able to watch on BBC Two.
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