BAFTA award-winning writer and director Amma Asante will seek to inspire a new generation of filmmakers at an event at Oxford Brookes University on Thursday.

She will talk about her unusual entry into the industry as a child actress, attending the Barbara Speake stage school in London, where she trained as a student in dance and drama before beginning her career in British school drama Grange Hill.

She also fronted the 'Just Say No' campaign of the 1980s and was one of nine Grange Hill children to take it to the Reagan White House.

However, in her late teens, she left acting and eventually made the move to screenwriting with development deals from Chrysalis, Channel 4 and the BBC.

Two series of the urban drama Brothers and Sisters followed, which she wrote and produced for BBC2.

Her 2004 feature film, A Way of Life, was her directorial debut, which she also wrote the screenplay for, and it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

The film garnered her newcomer nominations from the London Film Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Film Awards, and won her 17 international awards for her writing and directing and Newcomer Awards for writing and directing.

These included awards from the BFI London Film Festival, the prestigious South Bank Show Awards and Times Breakthrough Artist of the Year.

In recent years she has directed the critically acclaimed films Belle and A United Kingdom.

The talk is called The Power of Self-definition and is part of University efforts to showcase talented people from a wide range of ethnicities and backgrounds.

The free event will be held at the John Henry Brookes Building, Headington Campus from 5pm.

To book call 01865 484750 or email dblackings@brookes.ac.uk