Friends and trustees.

Danny Boyle was born Manchester in 1956 and is one of the United Kingdom's foremost theatre and film directors. He made his feature directorial debut with the film Shallow Grave. It was an instant success and was widely praised by film critics. Next came the film Trainspotting, based on the novel by Irvine Welsh. Critically and financially successful, it is considered among the most influential and iconic British films of the 1990s. Boyle has since gone on to direct many successful films including A Life Less Ordinary, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and The Beach staring Leonardo Di Caprio. Boyle's latest film, Slumdog Millionaire, has won over 60 international film festival prizes including 8 Oscars and 7 BAFTAs, taking home best picture and best director at both awards. See Danny's interview on Slumdog Millionaire, and read his article in the Times about the movie and Dramatic Need.

Born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1949, Sir Antony Sher KBE has more than forty major theatre productions and thirty films to his name. One of the world's most respected actors of stage and screen, His long-running collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company has seen him play such roles as Macbeth, Tamburlaine, Shylock, Malvolio, Richard III, Stanley Spencer and Primo Levi; his prolific film work includes Shakespeare in Love and Mrs. Brown. Antony is the recipient of numerous critical accolades including various Lawrence Olivier Awards for Best Actor and London Critics' Circle Theatre Awards. He is also an accomplished director, writer and artist, and was was knighted for his services to the arts in November 2000.

Born in Australia, Madeleine Morris is a Senior Broadcast Journalist with the BBC World Service in London, specialising in HIV/AIDS and the developing world. Her time at the BBC has seen her report and produce news from South Africa, Lesotho, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Israel, the West Bank, Thailand, the United States and India as well as across Europe, covering events such as the G8 summit in Scotland, the Millenium Development Goals in India and World Aids Day in South Africa and Lesotho. In 2005 Madeleine was awarded the Alexander Onassis Bursary and traveled throughout Uganda and Zambia, researching how Sub-Saharan Africa is combating the scourge of Aids. Madeleine is currently providing technical advice to internationally renowned Aids activist Winstone Zulu, assisting to establish a community radio station in the rural town of Kabwe.

Born in New Zealand, and educated at Cambridge and the London School of Economics, Toby Fisher is a barrister specialising in public and human rights law. He regularly represents asylum seekers and mental health detainees in the UK courts, and has acted for prisoners on death row in Sierra Leone. Toby is also the associate producer of two radio programmes on legal issues: "Unreliable Evidence" on BBC Radio 4, and "The Legal World" on the World Service. Before becoming a barrister, he was a professional actor in film, television and theatre.

Clemency Burton-Hill was born in London and has worked extensively as a professional journalist, actress and musician. After graduating from Cambridge in 2003, she became the UK's youngest broadsheet columnist, for the Telegraph; elsewhere her writing has been published in the Guardian, Observer and Vogue amongst others. She has played leading roles in many US and UK films and television series, and performed as a violinist in concert halls all over the world. In 2004, whilst filming in South Africa, Clemency became involved in various township music projects. Shortly after Yasser Arafat's death she travelled to the West Bank to help set up a similar music project in Ramallah, and now travels regularly to the region as a performer and Trustee of the Choir of London. In early 2006 Clemency worked for the United Nations World Food Programme, assisting on a new initiative to better engage the private sector in humanitarian disaster relief. Later that year she was a part of a Palestinian/Israeli peace project with the Geneva Initiative. Clemency currently lives in London.

A former Rwandan child soldier and refugee, Tindy has a degree in politics at Exeter University and is completing his Masters in Human Rights law at SOAS. Tindy has an active interest in his homeland and is closely connected to the arts through his adoptive parents, the actors Greg Wise and Emma Thompson.

Born in Australia and resident in London since 1998, James Mullighan has since 2007 been Creative Director of Shooting People, the global networking community for independent filmmakers. James has Bachelor degrees in Law and Arts from the University of Adelaide. For over two decades, he has been an arts journalist, specialising in theatre and classical music; his work has been published in the Times, GQ, the Scotsman, Vogue, Rolling Stone and The Age. For four years he worked at Sony Music (Entertainment) Australia, running first the Sony Classical then the Columbia labels. Prior to working at Shooting People, he was associate producer RESFEST UK & Ireland, four times producing the annual UK tour of the Festival which comprised of short film, music, art and design. He sits on the Advisory Boards of the Sheffield Doc Fest, Bristol Encounters, London Short Film, Abandon Normal Devices and Branchage Jersey International Film Festivals.

Vanessa Garwood is a British artist, born in Israel 1982, who studied in Florence for three years at the Charles Cecil Studios. Her work has been exhibited in the National Portrait Galleries BP Award where her painting won the Visitors Choice. She also exhibited at the London Costa Gallery, the London Art Fair and has featured in private collections. In the past few years her work has focused on travelling and landscape painting and this change resulted in an three month apprenticeship with the South African sculptor Dylan Lewis, in Cape Town. Since her return she has focused on sculpture in bronze in partnership with the Talisman Gallery in London. Whilst sculpting in South Africa’s Western Cape in 2009, Vanessa worked with a charitable organisation called Imibala, and taught art lessons to children from local schools. Vanessa has family in Kenya and South Africa, and travelled extensively in Africa throughout her life.

Simon Oakes is Vice-Chairman of Exclusive Media and President & CEO of Hammer Films. Prior to his role at Hammer, Simon Oakes held the posts of Managing Director UPCTV and latterly Head of Content Chellomedia, Europe’s largest cable company. Simon Oakes’ early career highlights were founding producer of “The Comic Strip”, Managing Director of Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel’s production company Cucumber Productions (producers of “Max Headroom”) and founder of Crossbow Films. He is also the Chairman of The Big Sleep Hotel Group and Chairman of B@TV. He is a passionate film producer and a great fan of Macaroni Cheese.

Virginia Eastman is a member of the global media practice Heidrick and Struggles the executive search firm. Prior to that she was Business Presenter/Correspondent with the BBC for fifteen years and reported or presented on nearly every daily or weekly programme produced by the Economics and Business Unit. In 2003 she won the Workplace Media Award for “Programme of the Year” for her Money Programme, “Sexism in the City”. Before joining the BBC in 1991, Virginia worked at Bain and Company. She sits on the Board of the London Press Club and the Wyvern Partners Advisory Board.

Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Phil drew is an award wining senior manager at Unity PR. Cambridge grad, he has worked on a dozen award-winning campaigns, including Friends of the Earth, on a campaign that gave Britain the world’s first climate change law; eco blockbuster The Age of Stupid, and Wasted Youth, a high profile initiative that aimed to curb rising rates of young male suicide In 2008 Phil worked with Dramatic Need on a campaign to fundraise for the charity’s ongoing work in South Africa and was determined to become more involved. In the same year, he was named Frontline Communicator of the Year by the Public Relations Consultants Association, and listed in PR Week’s top 24 under 24. Phil has worked with personalities ranging from Lady GaGa to Paul Weller, US rapper Busta Rhymes to London Mayor Boris Johnson. He is a former British Universities Boxing Champion and Boxing Cambridge Blue. He is very tough.

Debbie Wosskow is a serial entrepreneur and business strategist. A former management consultant, she built the communications consultancy Mantra over almost a decade, from first hire to successful exit. Debbie began her career in strategy consulting, advising companies in the financial services sector. In 1998 she moved into communications and joined the leading firm, Brunswick. In 2000, Debbie founded Mantra, and grew the business into one of the most successful agencies in London. Debbie sold Mantra to The Loewy Group and left the business in late 2008 to co-create Maidthorn Partners, the advisory firm focused on the creative industries. Her clients include some of the UK’s brightest and best creative businesses - both the established players and the next big things. Debbie is an active angel investor and sits on a number of advisory boards. She graduated with an MA in Philosophy and Theology from New College, Oxford.

Amber founded Dramatic Need in August 2004. She is a film and television actress. She lives and works in London.