Rose Ayling-Ellis named as 2022 BAFTA Breakthrough participant (BSL)

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Strictly winner and ex-EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis has been selected as one of 20 UK creatives to take part in this year’s BAFTA Breakthrough initiative, which will see her receive mentorship and career development opportunities.

Rose, who won a TV BAFTA earlier this year for her ‘silent dance’ on the BBC competition with partner Giovanni Pernice, will join famous faces Tom Holland (of Marvel’s latest Spider-Man trilogy) and Letitia Wright (Black Panther) as actors who have benefitted from the programme.

In an interview with The Limping Chicken, Rose said she was “very excited” about the opportunity.

“Doing acting, it’s really, really hard to break through, but when you are deaf, it’s even harder. So this is a good opportunity for me to get more opportunities, to have a BAFTA Breakthrough that I am able to meet people, network more and hopefully create more opportunities for me, as well as for deaf people,” she said.

Back in August, Rose delivered the Alternative MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival to detail her “lonely, upsetting” journey she has been on during her acting career, and explain she was “done with being the token deaf character”.

 

The same speech also saw her announce she was working on a comedy-drama series which will be “totally bilingual and female-focused”.

Asked how she would use the initiative to develop her career, Rose added: “I feel like I need to talk to the top people, basically. I need to talk to them and make them think from now on, any project they’re creating, to start thinking maybe to add disabled people or deaf people.

“Also, I don’t want only disabled people creating these programmes […] we also need them as well to create these opportunities.

“So I want to meet them and just be like, ‘hello!’”

Ruth Madeley, disabled actress and BAFTA Breakthrough juror, described Rose as “such an important figure in our industry” as a result of her “excellent work, raw talent and disability advocacy”.

“Her Breakthrough application was definitely a stand out and I’m so thrilled to see her be recognised for all that she does. I honestly can’t wait to see her career progress with the support of BAFTA,” she said.

Rose will next appear at new West End theatre @sohoplace this Christmas in their production of As You Like It, alongside fellow Deaf actor and former Casualty star Gabriella Leon.

Photo: BAFTA/Sophia Spring.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.