Lenny Henry
Birthday: 29 August 1958, Dudley, West Midlands, England, UK
Birth Name: Lenworth George Henry
Height: 190 cm
Lenworth George Henry was born on August 29, 1958, in Dudley, West Midlands in England to a family of Jamaican immigrants. He made his TV debut on a talent show called "New Faces" in 1975 at ...Show More
To walk on set and find a black director of photography or an Asian boom operator is as rare as seei Show more
To walk on set and find a black director of photography or an Asian boom operator is as rare as seeing John McCririck on the front cover of Vanity Fair. Hide
When I started, I was surrounded by a predominantly white workforce. Thirty-two years later, not a l Show more
When I started, I was surrounded by a predominantly white workforce. Thirty-two years later, not a lot has changed. Hide
[on Till Death Us Do Part (1965)] Writer Johnny Speight tried to ensure that in each storyline, Alf Show more
[on Till Death Us Do Part (1965)] Writer Johnny Speight tried to ensure that in each storyline, Alf came off the worst. But when I went to school the next morning, it was always me who came off worst. Context is everything. Alf Garnett was a ludicrous character, and in the right context pretty funny, but put him against the background of Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech - is he so funny then? Hide
TV producers of the 1960s and 1970s missed a great opportunity. Rather than reflect the reality of m Show more
TV producers of the 1960s and 1970s missed a great opportunity. Rather than reflect the reality of multi-ethnic Britain they chose a more xenophobic route - emphasizing points of difference instead of similarities. If they had been more truthful in their observations, who's to say we couldn't have encouraged more young black kids at school or prevented the Brixton riots even? Hide
[on costume dramas] By the time Queen Victoria was on the throne, this country had a sizable black p Show more
[on costume dramas] By the time Queen Victoria was on the throne, this country had a sizable black population, so where are they? You can't move for bonnets and crinolines and the people wearing them are all white. Hide
There is still so much work to do. When you can cast a Somalian girl in your piece simply because sh Show more
There is still so much work to do. When you can cast a Somalian girl in your piece simply because she's the best actress or when you can cast an Asian girl, and she is not playing the victim of an arranged marriage, or cast a bloke with dreadlocks not playing a drug dealer, then we will have something to work on. Hide
Lenny Henry's FILMOGRAPHY
as Actor (146)
Lenny Henry'S roles
