Andrew Rajan

Born in London 1966 Andrew grew up in Bedford, moving back to London to take up an apprenticeship in Mechanical and Production Engineering with the Ministry of Defence. Completing his four years, he then took off around the world, settling for a time in Australia, eventually coming back to apply for drama school. Successful, Andrew attended The Guildhall School and thereafter worked mostly in television. A strong array of British fare ensued, with BAFTA award-winning dramas 'Loved Up' and 'Holding On' and guest leads on 'Soldier, Soldier', 'The Bill' and 'EastEnders', among others. Disillusioned with the stereotyped roles he was afforded, he turned his sights to creating work, making his first short film 'Losing Heart' in 1997 as Producer, Actor. 'Losing Heart' was directed by long-time Mike Leigh collaborator Marion Bailey and afforded Andrew the opportunity to learn how to utilise the Master Improvisation technique favoured by Mike Leigh. On the back of this successful short, Andrew raised the finance for his first feature film 'Offending Angels' as Writer, Director, Producer, Actor, his ambition being to create worthwhile roles for non-white actors, making no mileage from their skin colour; something he wasn't seeing at all in the British film industry. This was followed by a role in Stephen Norrington's 'League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen' and the lead in the World Premier staged production of Hanif Kureishi's 'Intimacy', an 80-minute monologue. Thereafter, he successfully applied to the National Film & Television School in Beaconsfield, completing his Masters in Screenwriting, whilst also making the controversial short, 'Opportunist'. As Writer, Director, Producer, he's since made two feature-length documentaries, 'Finding Fink at Fifty', about hedge-fund Supremo Stanley Fink and 'The Penthouse at St Pancras'. Andrew then made feature-drama 'Greys Inbetween'. Andrew has contributed articles for The Guardian concerning #OscarsSoWhite and The Telegraph. He has sat on the juries for the Vevey Film Festival, the BAFTA's, The Sony Radio Awards and the RTA's. He has written three novels and several stageplays. All of his work continues to explore the territory of identity and preconceptions to do with race and culture. His most recent appearance was in the Cannes-winning feature 'Little Joe', Directed by Jessica Hausner, starring Emily Beecham, Ben Whishaw and Kerry Fox.