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The inimitably multi-talented Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson (Michaela Coel professionally) took home two coveted BAFTAs \u2013 Leading Actress\u00a0and\u00a0Mini-Series\u00a0for\u00a0I May Destroy You<\/em> \u2013 at last night\u2019s British Academy of Film and Television Arts 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael triumphed over other big name nominees such as Black Panther\u2019s Letitia Wright and Killing Eve\u2019s Jodie Comer. Her win comes on the heels of her three wins at the British Academy Television Craft Awards in May.
Over the past few years, Michaela has grabbed British television by the scruff of the neck and shaken it awake to the realities of a multicultural and global world.
Michaela is indeed blessed with an abundance of talent \u2013 she\u2019s a director, screenwriter, producer and singer in addition to being perhaps the most outstanding actress of her generation. Her presence on the screen has been described as \u201ca smouldering volcano about to erupt\u201d.
The BBC\/HBO comedy-drama series, I May Destroy You,<\/a><\/strong> which she wrote, co-directed and executive-produced, was perhaps 2020\u2019s most talked about \u2013 and praised \u2013 series. In it, she plays a writer who is raped after being given a spiked drink. As she tries to piece together what happened to her, she takes the viewer on a complex and funny journey, questioning the concept of consent, power relations, and dealing with bad experiences.
The UK Guardian TV critic, Lucy Mangan wrote of the series: \u201cIt is, in short, an extraordinary, breath-taking achievement without a false note in it, shot through with humour and with ideas, talent and character to burn at every perfectly plotted turn.\u201d
Michaela had previously already shaken the TV establishment by creating and starring in the hugely popular comedy Chewing Gum, for which she also won a BAFTA award. She followed this with a staggering performance in Black Earth Rising<\/em> and the musical Been So Long.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Given her dominance on both the big and small screens \u2013 on both sides of the Atlantic \u2013 it is no wonder she appeared in the 2020 Most Influential Lists of New African, Time magazine, British Vogue as well as our very own Women of the Year<\/a> and Cover (above)<\/p>\n

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More black talented<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This year\u2019s BAFTAs, which some British media outlets described as \u201cgiving a nod to diversity\u201d, also saw other black talents honoured, including Welsh-born black actress Rakie Ayola <\/a>who won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Anthony<\/a>, a movie about the murdered black teenager Anthony Walker. Walker, who was just 18, was murdered with an ice axe by Michael Barton and Paul Taylor, in an unprovoked, racially motivated attack on 29 July 2005\u00a0in the area of Huyton, Liverpool.
In an article headlined \u201c The killing of Anthony: The boy who died because of the colour of his skin,\u201d the Independent reported how the Walker family were the first black family to live in Huyton, and were subjects of relentless racial abuse and name-calling, including at the children\u2019s school. Rakie Ayola plays Anthony\u2019s mother Gee in the movie.<\/p>\n

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