This year’s Oscar nominations brought debate about the perceived lack of diversity in Hollywood to the fore. Through both his Identity School of Acting and the Identity Agency Group, Femi Oguns has directly addressed the issue in a way that other creative industries can learn a great deal from.

An established actor in his own right, Oguns founded the Identity School of Acting in October 2003. After leaving drama school he went on to university where he obtained a joint honours degree in Race and Culture and Performing Arts. His personal experiences there inspired him to create a drama school which would give actors of all ethnicities the platform to express themselves to their fullest. The Identity School is a part-time drama school that caters specifically for actors from all backgrounds.

In 2006, Oguns founded the Identity Agency Group, representing much of the talent that came through the School, including Star Wars lead John Boyega. IAG (which opened a US office in 2011) is now one of the UK’s leading acting agencies with a reputation for representing the best in diverse UK talent.

Oguns was named as a UK Film Council Breakthrough Brit in the fields of Acting and Writing in 2010 and in 2014 was awarded the MBE for services to the acting industry.

identitydramaschool.com