There were times where I was in my bedroom with my vision boards
and literally having one of the little BAFTAs on there,
and believing in myself.
The winner of the EE Rising Star Award, Letitia Wright.
(applause) Congratulations, Letitia.
Hi.
Could you go and stand by the mic? That would be wonderful.
- Oh my god, congratulations. - Thank you.
- Hold it up for us. - Yes.
It's lovely, it's blue.
- And the only award voted for by the public, how does that feel?
It feels really amazing to be supported
by everyone that's watching your work throughout the years,
and yeah, I'm really grateful for people
to gather together and vote for me.
It's just years of hard work and years of dedication
and picking myself back up.
Tonight is very special for me.
- The best thing about being recognised by the BAFTAs,
it's incredible but, like you say, you have been working
for a super long time to get to this point, right?
So how gratifying is it that your work is getting out there,
people are seeing you? - It means a lot.
It's not every day that an actor can say that they are able to be on set
and work with people that they're inspired by.
It's a tough business, it can be really tough,
but I pride myself on just having faith and just ploughing through,
so to be able to have that faith and perseverance.
There were times where I was in my bedroom with my vision boards
and literally having one of the little BAFTAs on there,
and believing in myself and believing that
I have something to offer to the world,
and then for people to embrace that, it means a lot to me.
- I'd like to open it up to the audience.
We've got a question right in the front.
Hello, thank you for your question.
- Last year it was Daniel Kaluuya, this year it's you.
- Great for south London, innit? - Ah, man.
Well, I'm not from south London, I'm from north London.
I'm from Tottenham and Daniel's also from Camden, which is north London.
But for London-, (laughter) it is wonderful, it is wonderful.
- Yeah, Sinead?
Hey.
- Hiya, congratulations. - Thank you.
Are you enjoying the fact that it's blue and not gold?
- Makes it more special, right? - Yeah, it is.
I'm just enjoying the fact that it's very unique and it's special,
and for BAFTA to also have this category means a lot.
It means that it encourages us to just put our work out there
and then people get to vote for it
and you get to see what's going on outside
and know that your work is being seen and appreciated.
So yeah, I love my little blue man.
- Just a quick one, who will be the first person
from the Black Panther crew to text you to say well done?
Danai kind of beat everyone because she's here tonight,
and I love her and I just did a play of hers
and it literally inspired me and made me grow so much.
I think probably the second person might be Lupita.
She's a bit quicker than Chad, and then Chad, and then Ryan Coogler.
- And who would be last? - Who would be last?
- Not because they want to be mean, just because they're bad at texting.
Because they forgot?
Michael B. Jordan because he's so busy
and he's making a thousand films, and I am so inspired by him.
- Excellent, thank you. - Thank you.
Any more questions? Yep.
- Yes, well done. I'm so pleased for you, it's brilliant.
Lovely chat on the way in.
We didn't get to hear it in here,
but I heard your speech was quite personal.
Bless you, yeah.
- Out there, which I was just told about.
What was that like for you now coming off the stage,
that you opened up so personally in front of everyone like that?
I feel, you know, I didn't write anything.
I just thought if I were to win tonight,
I would just speak from my heart,
and I knew that I was struggling with stuff before
that many people in the industry are struggling with
and are hiding away from and not opening up and telling people about,
whether it be sadness, depression, feeling like they're not good enough
and not allowing their light to shine that's within them.
And that was my opportunity to say,
'Hey, I see you and I understand what you're going through.'
This looks great, a red carpet and a nice dress looks great,
but people on the inside, they're feeling sad
and they're feeling broken, so how can I encourage them tonight?
And within that I forgot to thank my mum,
so I thank my mum, my dad and everybody that voted for me
and all of my good friends. I have really good, amazing friends
so I want to thank them too. This is my second speech, yeah.
Letitia, thank you so much and congratulations again.
- Thank you so much. - So proud of you.
(applause)