Juliet Asante

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Juliet Yaa Asantewa Asante is a Ghanaian actor, producer, director and philanthropist. She has led Ghana’s film industry as a former Chief Executive Officer of the National Film Authority (NFA) and serves on the board of the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI). She founded the Black Star International Film Festival and its associated film institute, helping to train many Ghanaian actors through Eagle Drama Workshop.

Her 2015 film Silver Rain earned multiple Africa-wide nods, including nominations for Best Film in West Africa and Best Costume at the Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards (AMVCA), and it was recognized as Best Overall Film in Africa that year.

In 1999 she started Eagle House Productions (also known as Eagle Productions Limited) to create popular Ghanaian TV shows and to train talent. She also launched Save Our Women International, a nonprofit focused on female sexual education, and in 2014 introduced Mobile Flicks (Mobilefliks), mobile-phone short films in Africa developed with MTN.

Juliet is the second of five children and was born in Ghana. She holds two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Cape Coast and the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI), and she earned two master’s degrees — Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Public Policy (MPP) — from Harvard Kennedy School. She also has first-class honors in Film Directing from NAFTI.

Her work spans acting in films such as Deadly Voyage (1996), Twin Lovers, Fresh Blood, Tears of Blood, Ripples and Thread of Ananse, and writing, directing and producing TV shows like Obaby and Secrets. She serves as founder and executive director of the Black Star International Film Institute and chairs the Creative Arts School Curriculum Committee for Ghana’s Ministry of Education. She also leads the Yaa Asantewa Library project to stock libraries in communities across Ghana.

Outside film, Juliet writes for The Huffington Post, mentors entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management, and has lectured Mass Communications at Webster University Ghana.