Leesa Gazi
Leesa Gazi is a Bangladeshi-born British writer, playwright, theatre director, and actress based in London. Her 2023 film A House Named Shahana was selected as the Bangladeshi entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards.
Background
Gazi's father fought during the Bangladesh Liberation War.Career
Gazi is the co-founder of theatre and arts company Komola Collective. She was the script-writer and performer of Six Seasons and Tahmima Anam's A Golden Age at the Southbank Centre. Her theatrical credits include: Birangona: Women of War, Sonata, Rokey's Dream, Demon's Revenge, Ponderful People, and Bonbibi. She also wrote the script for Bonbibi: Lady of the Forest in 2012. She performed in People's Romeo, which had an eight-week nationwide tour with Tara Arts. Sonata, adapted and performed by Gazi, was invited to Bangladesh in 2010 by the British Council. She performed in a serialised adaptation of A Golden Age. She worked as the cultural coordinator and as a voice artist for Akram Khan's Desh.In 2012, she worked as a script interpreter for the Globe to Globe Festival at the Globe Theatre on The Tempest. She acted in a play about domestic violence called Whisper Me Happy Ever After. She works for Train4change as an actor as well, and worked on a project with them on a film for the charity WaterAid. Between May and August 2014, she worked as an actor in a series of BBC educational films.
Gazi hosts Aei Jonopode, a weekly live-phone-in show on Bangla TV. In 2010, her first novel, Rourob, was published.
Gazi was awarded the Grants for the Arts by the ACE for the Birangona: Women of War theatre project by Komola Collective. She is the concept developer, co-writer and the performer of this theatre production.
In May 2014, Gazi was interviewed by Nadia Ali on BBC Asian Network.