Homeland and Selma stars sign up as patrons for diversity network

Homeland’s David Harewood, Selma star David Oyelowo and Broadchurch’s Marianne Jean-Baptiste are among more than a dozen figures from TV and film lending their support to a network aimed at increasing diversity on screen and behind the camera.

They have signed up as patrons of TriForce Creative Network, which was founded in 2004 by actors Jimmy Akingbola and Fraser Ayres to help bring together broadcasting professionals and up and coming talent from across all backgrounds.

TriForce has recently been building on the growing awareness created by Lenny Henry’s Bafta speech calling for action to tackle the “appalling” lack of black, Asian and ethnic minority faces in the industry.

Other new patrons include The Walking Dead’s David Morrisey, Kacey Ainsworth of EastEnders and actor and director Noel Clarke, as well as comedian, writer and director Kathy Burke, and Oscar winning director Kevin Macdonald.

Akingbola said: “TriForce Creative Network is all about diversity of experience and our impressive list of supporters reflects that. We are honoured to have such fantastic patrons and partners for 2015, who are all hugely committed to nurturing and supporting the next generation of British film talent, and we are very excited to see the breadth of talent to come through the door this year.”

Clarke and Jean-Baptisite are also set to join the judging panel for the TriForce Short Film Festival in December, which is backed by organisations including Channel 4.

In April, Akingbola and Ayres teamed up with former Life on Mars and EastEnders writer Tony Jordan to set up TriForce Productions, which aims to draw on the network to get emerging talent from different backgrounds into the industry.