The Walk Ambassadors

“I feel particularly close to Little Amal. She’s from my home country and we took the same journey across Europe walking in the footsteps of millions of other refugees. Everything about Amal is beautiful; from her name which means Hope, to how she brings communities together along the way to celebrate migration and cultural diversity”

Hassan was part of the team that made Exodus: Our Journey to Europe which won the BAFTA for Best Factual Series or Strand in 2017. He continues to be an advocate for refugees around the world via a range of campaigns and has been featured in Vogue, Al-Jazeera, the Guardian, BBC News and the Independent.

“I honestly believe that art can inspire positive change and The Walk is, I think, an ingenious way to unite people in awareness about the ongoing and urgent refugee crisis. Refugees have voices full of shared experiences that we all need to hear including millions of children who are now more vulnerable than ever and young girls desperate for education. Never has there been a more integral moment than the present to support the artistic community and I’m in awe of the depth of this project – an extraordinary international response which will support, educate, advocate and inspire.”

Award-winning film, television and theatre actress Gillian Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as ‘Special Agent Dana Scully’ on American TV series The X-Files. Further television credits include Bleak House,  Great Expectations, The Fall, Hannibal, American Gods, War and Peace and Netflix’s Sex Education. And in Film, The House Of Mirth, Last King Of Scotland,  Shadow Dancer, and Johnny English Reborn, to name a few.

Recently on stage, Gillian performed at the Young Vic Theatre in London as Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire and Margot Channing in Ivo van Hove’s West End adaptation of All About Eve.

Gillian can currently be seen starring as the UK’s first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, in the fourth season of Netflix’s The Crown.

“Little Amal’s walk is an act of freedom, just like art is. While she walks tall she teaches us about love and resilience and hovers above our shortcomings.  I am thrilled to be an ambassador for The Walk, and very honoured to be following the lead of every little Amal out there.”

Hailed as “intensely soulful” and a “virtuoso” by The New York Times and “spellbinding” by The New Yorker, Winner of OpusKlassik award in 2019 clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh has gained international recognition for what the CBC has called his “incredibly rich sound” and his distinctive compositional voice across diverse musical genres.

Originally from Damascus, Syria, Kinan Azmeh brings his music to all corners of the world as a soloist, composer and improviser. Notable appearances include the Opera Bastille, Paris; Tchaikovsky Grand Hall, Moscow; Carnegie Hall and the UN General Assembly, New York; the Royal Albert Hall, London; Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires; Der Philharmonie, Berlin; the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Washington DC; the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie; and in his native Syria at the opening concert of the Damascus Opera House.

Kinan Azmeh is a graduate of New York’s Juilliard School as a student of Charles Neidich, and of both the Damascus High institute of Music where he studied with Shukry Sahwki, Nicolay Viovanof and Anatoly Moratof, and Damascus University’s School of Electrical Engineering. Kinan earned his doctorate degree in music from the City University of New York in 2013.

“The courageous journey and ambitious path of Amal’s Walk is precisely the event we need right now to take stock in the plight of our fellow human beings, allowing ourselves to answer the call to action to help our fellow citizens. It is an honor to stand by her side and participate in bringing her story to the world.”

Multi-Grammy Award winner and 2018 Olivier Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Kansas-born Joyce DiDonato entrances audiences across the globe, and has been proclaimed “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation” by the New Yorker. With a voice “nothing less than 24-carat gold” according to the Times, Joyce has soared to the top of the industry both as a performer and a fierce advocate for the arts, gaining international prominence in operas by Handel and Mozart, as well as through her wide-ranging, acclaimed discography. She is also widely acclaimed for the bel canto roles of Rossini and Donizetti.

Photo by Salva López

“It feels so easy to support The Walk and to welcome Little Amal. This stems from my personal history. I too am a refugee child. And the world is hard for so many more people today. We have to put a spotlight, always, on displaced people. And The Walk is created with respect, beautiful creativity and heart, that’s the Journey of Little Amal. Let’s walk together.”

Noma Dumezweni is an actress known for HBO’s The Undoing, Mary Poppins Returns, Black Earth Rising, Harry Potter & the Cursed Child in the original West End & Broadway productions. Of South African heritage, she arrived to Britain as a refugee at the age of 7 with her mother and younger sister.

Photo by Ruth Crafer

“Little Amal’s journey is a beautiful one. I’m deeply proud to be an ambassador for her, on her walk in support of refugees all over the world.”

BAFTA Award winning actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor has a breadth of critically acclaimed work across stage and screen. A few of his credits include Dirty Pretty Things, Half of a Yellow Sun, 12 Years a Slave, Disney’s The Lion King and most recently Gina Prince-Bythewood’s adaptation of The Old Guard on Netflix. He made his directorial debut in 2019 for The Boy Who Who Harnessed The Wind, which he adapted from the book of the same name.  In 2008, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to the arts and he was elevated to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2015 Birthday Honours.

 

Halit Ergenç was born in İstanbul in 1970. He graduated from the Opera and Musical Department of Mimar Sinan State Conservatory. He was a successful stage actor before starting his TV / movie career. Ergenç took part in the leading roles of many Turkish TV series watched around the world.

1970 yılında İstanbul’da doğdu. Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi Devlet Konservatuarı’nın Opera ve Müzikal Bölümü’nden mezun oldu. TV/ sinema kariyerine başlamadan önce başarılı bir sahne oyuncusuydu. Ergenç, dünya çapında izlenen pek çok Türk dizisinin başrolünde yer aldı.

“Holding the hand of that enormous brave little girl is so simple and so uplifting. Love for strangers isn’t a troubling commitment , its a life changing joy!”

With a career in music spanning three decades and a host of roles from renowned lyricist, singer, and producer to radio and TV host and soundtrack composer and producer, Guy Garvey has left an indelible mark on the music world. In June 2022 Little Amal appeared on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage with Guy and Elbow.

Patrick Gaspard is the president and chief executive officer of the Center for American Progress and the chief executive officer of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Patrick Gaspard was a key figure in President Barack Obama’s administration and held a number of prominent positions during Obama’s two terms in office, including serving as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of South Africa in the second term.

From the fall 2011 until the spring 2013, Gaspard served as executive director of the Democratic National Committee, where he steered the national party’s role in reelecting the president and oversaw a $300 million budget and 500 staff.

From 2009 until 2011, he was assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Political Affairs. He also served as the associate director of personnel for the Obama transition and the national political director for the historic 2008 campaign.

Gaspard most recently served as the president of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), one of the largest private philanthropies in the world. He first joined the foundation as its global vice president, responsible for its regional programs across five continents and its global advocacy strategy in multiple world capitals. He quickly became president during his first year in OSF in 2017 and went on to serve in that role for four years. As president, he managed and set the strategy for a $1.4 billion dollar budget and a staff of 1,600.

During his tenure, he confronted significant threats to open societies around the globe, including the rise of authoritarian regimes and the spread of COVID-19 worldwide. In 2020, Gaspard conceptualized and stewarded Open Society’s urgent contribution of $200 million in investments to support essential workers and other communities hit hardest by COVID-19. He also shaped the foundation’s $220 million commitment to civil rights groups in the wake of the national reckoning on race following the murder of George Floyd.

During his tenure as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, from 2013 to 2016, he led over 1,000 staff and an annual budget of more than $600 million from 29 different government agencies. Gaspard led the effort to redesign PEPFAR—the U.S. government’s HIV/AIDS initiative—to integrate it effectively into the South African health care system. He also successfully led the trade negotiations that led to an unprecedented 10-year renewal of the bilateral African Growth and Opportunity compact between the trading partners.

Gaspard was born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, to Haitian parents. He grew up in New York City and had a long career there and nationally in organized labor, electoral politics, and public service. He started as a union organizer and rose to become executive vice president for politics and legislation of the Local 1199 branch of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the largest unions in the United States. He went on to serve as the national political director for the national organization and its 2 million members.

Gaspard attended Columbia University and is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Columbia University and Bard College. He has also been awarded the Spingarn Medal, which is the highest honor bestowed by the NAACP.

“Adapting to a new culture had many challenges for my family as refugees. However, we were also warmly welcomed by different Scottish communities and families, many of whom weren’t afraid of people who looked differently to them, who they actually found many similarities with – and many of whom my family wouldn’t have quite made it without. To have to start afresh and ‘prove yourself’ in a country and culture, maybe even language, that isn’t yours is a terrifying prospect for anyone, let alone a child. Which is why I choose to welcome Little Amal.” 

Ncuti Gatwa is an Scottish-Rwandan Actor best known for his work on Sex Education on Netflix. Born in Kigali, Rwanda and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and gained a BA in acting in 2013.

“The wretched of the earth wander, all seventy million of them, from country to country neglected, unwanted, turned away, set aside. We turn a blind eye, a deaf ear to their plight.  In so doing are we not also wretched? How can it be that we watch our shameful governments turn them away in our name?  Is life so cheap? – if it is from elsewhere? Amal’s walk gives visibility to the millions we have made invisible.  Let’s all please support her courageous walk from country to country like our brothers and sisters in whose footsteps she follows.”

Anish Kapoor is considered one of the most influential sculptors working today. He was born in Mumbai in 1954 and lives and works in London. He studied at Hornsey College of Art (1973–77) followed by postgraduate studies at Chelsea School of Art, London (1977–78). Recent solo exhibitions include: Houghton Hall, Norfolk, UK (2020), Pitzhanger Manor, London (2019); Serralves, Museu de Arte Contemorânea, Porto (2018); Parque de la Memoria, Buenos Aires (2017); Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma (MACRO), Rome (2016); Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City (2016); Château de Versailles, France (2015). Permanent commissions include Cloud Gate (2004) for the Millennium Park in Chicago; Orbit for the London 2012 Olympic Park, and Ark Nova (2013), the world’s first inflatable mobile concert hall, Japan. Anish Kapoor represented Britain at the 44th Venice Biennale (1990), for which he was awarded the Premio Duemila and won the Turner Prize in 1991. In 2013 he received a knighthood for services to the arts.

Photo by Jillian Edelstein

Waad al-Kateab is a Syrian activist and award-winning filmmaker. She became a citizen journalist in 2011, after protests broke out across Syria against the Assad regime, and in January 2016 she began documenting the horrors of Aleppo for Channel 4 News in a series titled, “Inside Aleppo.” which received an International Emmy for breaking news coverage. 

Waad’s first feature documentary, For Sama, documented her life over five years in Aleppo. The film, directed with Edward Watts, received worldwide critical acclaim, winning numerous awards, including the Prix L’Œil d’or for best documentary at Cannes Film Festival, Best Documentary at the BAFTAs and a nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 2020 Academy Awards. Waad has also received several personal recognitions for her work as an activist and filmmaker, including the IDA Courage Under Fire Award and a place in the 2020 Time100 List of Most Influential People. 

December 2016, Waad, her husband, and their two daughters now reside in London, United Kingdom. Waad continues to work with Channel 4 News, is a mentor for the Marie Colvin Journalist Network and the International Center for Journalists, and dedicates time to her advocacy campaign, Action For Sama. 

“The biggest victims of the refugee issues in the world and in my country are children. I, as a human being feel ashamed for every breath I take when I see them losing their homes, dreams and lives. Now I have hope because we have the opportunity to announce the refugees’ journeys to the whole world.

I am happy to walk along with Little Amal on her journey. I’ve always believed the unifying power of art. I wish the futures of refugee children all over the world will be given to them in the most fair way, under equal and humane conditions.”

 

Bergüzar Korel who was born in 1982 in İstanbul, graduated from the Theater Department of Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory. She appeared in many short films and dramas prior to her professional career. Korel also released two music albums.

1982 yılında İstanbul’da doğan Bergüzar Korel, Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi Devlet Konservatuarı’nın Tiyatro bölümünden mezun oldu. Profesyonel kariyerinden önce pek çok kısa fim ve oyunda yer aldı. Korel, aynı zamanda iki müzik albümü çıkardı.

“What an inspired idea this is. I am delighted to be an ambassador of this remarkable event and hope it brings much needed attention to the lives of so many people young and old that seek refuge.”

BAFTA winner and Oscar, Tony and Olivier Award-nominated actor Jude Law has worked alongside the most accomplished directors, writers and talent of our time in a career spanning three decades of distinguished and immersive performances, from his breakout role in The Talented Mr. Ripley to the recent 12-hour live event for The Third Day. A few of his recent credits include The Nest, Vox Lux, Captain Marvel, Obsession (Ivo Von Hove, Barbican) and The Young Pope. Law will next be seen reprising his role as ‘Dumbledore’ in the Warner Bros. franchise Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3, and is currently in production on David Lowery’s Peter Pan and Wendy, in which he stars as ‘Captain Hook’.

Gary Lineker OBE is a sports broadcaster and former professional English footballer. He has presented the flagship BBC football programme Match of the Day since the late 1990s. He has also worked for Al Jazeera Sports, Eredivisie Live, NBC Sports Network and currently hosts BT Sport’s coverage of the UEFA Champions League.

In 2020 Gary hosted a refugee at his home in England through the Refugees at Home programme.

Magid Magid is a Somali-British justice activist, author and a former elected politician. He was a Green Party MEP representing Yorkshire & the Humber at the European Parliament and was previously the youngest ever Lord Mayor of his beloved city, Sheffield. Magid was recently named one of TIME’s 100 rising stars shaping the future of the world.

Michael Morpurgo is the former Children’s Laureate and best-selling author of over 150 books, including Private Peaceful, Kensuke’s Kingdom, The Butterfly Lion, and War Horse, which became a hugely successful production from the National Theatre and a movie by Steven Spielberg. In 1976, Michael and his wife, Clare, started the charity Farms for City Children which offers children and teachers from urban primary schools the chance to live and work on a working farm for a week, and gain hands-on experience of the countryside. Michael received a Knighthood in 2018 for services to literature and charity.

Franco Nero, is an Italian actor who has performed over 200 leading and supporting roles in a wide variety of films and television programmes in both Italy and abroad including The Bible: In the Beginning… (1966), Camelot (1967), The Day of the Owl (1968), The Mercenary (1968), Battle of Neretva (1969), Tristana (1970), Compañeros (1970), The Fifth Cord (1971), Confessions of a Police Captain (1971), High Crime (1973), Street Law (1974), Keoma (1976), Hitch-Hike (1977), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Enter the Ninja (1981), Die Hard 2 (1990), Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 (2001), Letters to Juliet (2010) and John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017).

“I am proud to be supporting Amal and this telling of the story of a multitude through the experience of one. I hope her journey adds a human face to the sad headlines of recent years.”

Yotam Ottolenghi is the restaurateur and chef-patron of four London-based Ottolenghi delis, as well as the NOPI and ROVI restaurants. He is the author of seven best-selling cookery books which have garnered many awards, including the National Book Award for Ottolenghi SIMPLE which was also selected as best book of the year by the New York Times. Yotam has been a weekly columnist for the Saturday Guardian for over thirteen years and is a regular contributor to the New York Times. His commitment to the championing of vegetables, as well as ingredients once seen as ‘exotic’ has led to what some call “The Ottolenghi effect”. This is shorthand for the creation of a meal which is full of colour, flavour, bounty and sunshine. Yotam lives in London with his family.

“In this time of political hostilities, rising climate change disasters, and the ongoing racist dehumanisation of our world’s refugee men, women and children, A Walk With Amal is exactly what is needed by us all. I am incredibly proud to be supporting Amal’s journey, and hope each step she and the team takes will reignite consciousness on a global scale about what our fellow human beings are forced to bear, and the dire need for greater humanity and kinder routes to safety for all.”

Onjali Q. Raúf is a human rights activist and a multi award-winning children’s author. She is the founder and CEO of O’s Refugee Aid Team which mobilises aid convoys and funds to help frontline refugee response teams across northern France and beyond, and the author of Sunday Times bestselling children’s book, The Boy at the Back of the Class, which won both the Blue Peter Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in 2019, and shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Her other publications include The Star Outside My Window, The Night Bus Hero and The Great Food Bank Heist.

Onjali is also founder of Making Herstory; a Patron of VIP Reading, Facefront Theatre, and NIA Women; an Ambassador for Museum of the Home (London), and a contributor to BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought. An alumni of the Cambridge University Senior Faith in Leadership programme, she was listed as one of BBC’s 100 most influential women from around the world in 2019 alongside Greta Thunberg and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez amongst others. Her first children’s play on issues faced by child refugees in the UK, The Hero Next Door, is due to be staged at the end of 2022.

“I am deeply moved and very enthusiastic about the Amal project and feel honored to
have  become an ambassador for it. I truly believe, that if humanitarians and artists come together on an international scale, they can speak up for those whose voices have been silenced, yet should be heard. That’s why I support Amal with all my heart.”

Katja Riemann is a multi-award winning actress in theatre and film. She also works with
various orchestras and international classical- and jazz-musicians. She is a UNICEF ambassador for Germany and works closely with Amnesty International and UNHCR. In 2020 she released a non-fiction book about humanitarian work, based on her field trips in various countries all over the world throughout the last 20 years. In 2021 her first documentary as director “…and here we are!” was released, which portrays a film school in Moria, the refugee camp on Lesvos. In 2010 she was awarded with the Federal Cross of Merit for her humanitarian work.

“As the son of a child refugee, no issue today is more acute than the well-being of children faced with dislocation, and I support this wonderful project with every fibre in my body.”

Philippe Sands is Professor of Law at UCL and a barrister at Matrix Chambers. He is author of numerous books, including East West Street (2016) and The Ratline (2020), and President of English PEN.

Photo by Antonio Olmos

“It’s been my experience that art can sneak through the cracks in walls that have been put up as barricades to debate and discussion. Art affects our emotions and reconnects us to empathy, which is the most vital quality necessary to lessening the “othering” that allows injustice to occur. I’m so excited to be associated with this incredible artistic endeavour and can’t wait to meet Little Amal in person!”

Anoushka Shankar is a British-Indian-American sitarist and composer renowned for bringing her distinctively emotional yet virtuosic playing style into an incredibly diverse range of musical genres. Among her accolades are six Grammy nominations, a House of Commons Shield, two Eastern Eye ACTA Awards and a Songlines Best Artist Award. She began studying the sitar as a child under her father, the legendary Ravi Shankar, and made her performing debut aged thirteen. Since releasing her first solo album aged seventeen, she has made 9 solo albums and numerous collaborative recordings whilst maintaining a rigorous global performing schedule over the last two decades. More recently, Anoushka Shankar has turned her energy towards composing for film and television, commissioned by the British Film Institute to create a new score for the iconic 1928 classic silent film Shiraz, and co-composing Mira Nair’s adaptation of A Suitable Boy for BBC1 and Netflix. She is currently Associate Artist at London’s iconic Southbank Centre. Anoushka is also recognised for her impassioned support of women’s rights and social justice. She has been outspoken about her experiences as a woman and a survivor of abuse, throwing her weight behind campaigns such as One Billion Rising. In 2020 she was announced as the inaugural President of the F-List: a UK database created to help bridge the gender-gap in music.

Photo by Laura Lewis

Juliet Stevenson, CBE, is an English actor of stage and screen. Her film credits include Truly, Madly, Deeply, Let Me Go, Bend It Like Beckham, Being Julia and Mona Lisa Smile. Her television credits include Riviera, Atlantis, One of Us, The Enfield Haunting and Out of Her Mind.  She has been nominated for five BAFTAs and as won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress on three occasions, for A Doll’s House, The Politician’s Wife and Accused.

Juliet has starred in numerous Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court, Almeida Theatre and National Theatre productions, including Olivier Award-nominated roles in Measure for Measure, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Yerma. For her role as Paulina in Death and the Maiden, she won the 1992 Olivier Award for Best Actress. Her other theatre credits include Hamlet, Mary Stuart, The Heretic, Wings, Happy Days, Duet for One – for which she received her fifth Olivier nomination – and most recently Blindness at the Donmar Warehouse.

She received a sixth Oliver nomination for her performance as Ruth Woolf in The Doctor, which will transfer from the Almeida Theatre to the West End in 2021.

“From the first moment I heard about this incredible project, I wanted to be a part of it. Little Amal will make her historic walk and she – like all refugees – will carry imagination, joy, vision and possibility. She will unite communities everywhere through her magical presence and her ability to delight. She will remind us of the power of girls and their right to be educated. She will ask us to welcome our fellow human beings, to take their hand. It is going to be one of the most brilliant, artistic expressions of universal love.”

V (formerly Eve Ensler) is the Tony Award-winning playwright and author of the Obie Award-winning, theatrical phenomenon, The Vagina Monologues translated into 48 languages, performed in 140 countries along with many other plays. She is the author of a number of books including her latest best sellers, The Apology and In the Body of the World as well as The New York Times Best Seller, I am an Emotional Creature. She starred on Broadway in The Good Body, and most recently Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club in In the Body of the World. Most recently, she helped create That Kindness: Nurses in Their Own Words presented by BAM in accordance with theatres all across the United States. She is founder of V-Day, the 22-year-old global activist movement which has raised over 120 million dollars to end violence against all women (cisgender and transgender), those who hold fluid identities, nonbinary people, girls and the planet—and founder of One Billion Rising, the largest global mass action to end gender-based violence in over 200 countries,  as well as a co-founder of City of Joy. She writes regularly for The Guardian.

Photo by Paula Allen

Wolf Alice are Ellie Rowsell (vocals, guitar), Joff Oddie (guitar, vocals), Joel Amey (drums) and Theo Ellis (bass). Since forming, the band have seen their 2015 gold-selling debut album My Love Is Cool soar to #2 on the UK chart and, their sophomore album Visions Of A Life win the 2018 Hyundai Mercury Prize. They have picked up a GRAMMY nomination for Best Rock Performance, two BRIT nominations and taken home two NME Awards and the Q Award for Best Live Band. For their Visions Of A Life world tour, the band played a massive 187 shows – including a sold out Alexandra Palace, London and 2 sold out dates at Brixton Academy London. The band have graced the stage at various worldwide festivals including the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. 2021 sees the band return with their third album ‘Blue Weekend‘ to be released on 4th June.

“Amal’s journey is a beautiful and poignant reminder of the real world counter-part that many of our brothers and sisters in humanity have to endure in their lifetime. I’m proud to be an ambassador for this wonderful project. Art has the ability to affect us in ways reality seems unable to these days. Our world has closed the hearts of so many and made us turn our back on our love and community for others. The most beautiful way of unlocking our prejudice and hate is to travel and experience other cultures. Amal’s walk will, in an ideal world, expose her to the warmth and welcome inherent in all of us across the globe and which is sorely needed today. I wish that for her and for every human being making the same journey.”

BAFTA nominated actor and veteran stage performer, Youssef was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and has worked prolifically on both sides of the Atlantic and across three continents. Named a BAFTA BREAKTHROUGH honoree for 2020, he is most well known for portraying Sami in the Channel 4 series ‘HOME’ for which he received a Royal Television Society award for Best Actor in a Comedy. As well as multiple nominations. Other screen credits include Karl in Channel 4’s ‘Baghdad Central.’ ‘Dracula’ for Netflix/BBC ,  ‘Gavin and Stacey’ Xmas Special. ‘Criminal UK’, ‘Cursed’, ‘Dracula’ all for Netflix. He will soon be seen in Ridley Scott’s ‘House of Gucci’ and ‘The Alchemist’ by Kevin Scott Frakes.

Originally from Morocco he is a graduate of Bard College in upstate New York and of LAMDA in London.