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The star-studded BAFTA Film Awards<\/a> 2026 ceremony in London on Sunday also put a spotlight on Donna Langley<\/a>, chair\u00a0of NBCUniversal Entertainment and the first British woman to run a major Hollywood studio. The top executive, born and raised on the Isle of Wight in the U.K., took to the stage to receive the British Academy\u2019s highest honor, the BAFTA Fellowship<\/a>, to a standing ovation before highlighting cinema\u2019s power to bring people together.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are \u2026 facing moments of change and disruption today,\u201d Langley said. \u201cAnd my hope is that those of us who help tell stories for a living continue to find inspiration to make popular art that carries over into people\u2019s everyday lives \u2014 that helps us understand the world a bit better and to see each other a little more clearly\u2026 and reminds us that decency is a superpower.\u201d<\/p>\n More from The Hollywood Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n Langley also shared that her parents helped her \u201csee differences as a strength and not a weakness.\u201d<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cAs my career has progressed, I\u2019ve come to believe that the most meaningful part of what we do is the people we choose to support along the way. The voices we encourage. And the talent we protect\u2026 long enough for them to find their feet. And the doors we remember to open.\u201d<\/p>\n Langley ended with a call to action. \u201cAs we move forward, let\u2019s remember the future of this business is not something that happens to us,\u201d she emphasized. \u201cIt\u2019s something we shape\u2026 by the risks we take and the people we back. So, let us continue to adapt, be resilient and make room for new voices.\u201d<\/p>\n Prince William introduced Langley, lauding, among other things, her \u201cdetermination and commitment,\u201d and her \u201cstrong commitment to inclusion and mentorship.\u201d<\/p>\n In a video reel showing collaborators praising Langley, Steven Spielberg said: \u201cDonna is a peacemaker and she\u2019s a dealmaker, a creative rights advocate, and she\u2019s always on the forward fringe of new business, new technology, new ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cDonna believes that movies and audiences belong in movie theaters, and she\u2019s an advocate of that\u2026 to make movies [for people], as Gloria Swanson said in Sunset Boulevard<\/em>, out there in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n Concluded Spielberg: \u201cHer patience is kind of like the bonding agent. It makes us all feel like, in a way, she\u2019s our security blanket.\u201d<\/p>\n Christopher Nolan<\/a> said in the reel: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to think of a more deserving recipient of a BAFTA Fellowship than Dame Donna Langley. She\u2019s been leading Universal with a very unique blend of filmmaker-friendly creative insights with true leadership that commands respect.\u201d His conclusion: \u201cDonna has a grasp of all the different aspects of the filmmaking process but never loses sight of the audience. [She] is so inspiring to work for and collaborate with.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamma Mia!<\/em> producer Judy Craymer lauded Langley as \u201ca titan,\u201d adding: \u201cShe\u2019s an outlier. She\u2019s already created an incredible legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n Working Title Films chairs and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner also feted Langley via the reel. \u201cYou have somebody at the very center of the motion picture business who really understands our culture, so that when you take a British idea or a British subject to her, she will understand it,\u201d Bevan highlighted. Added Fellner: \u201cOnce she believes in what you\u2019re trying to do, she\u2019s 100 percent behind you.\u201d<\/p>\n Sara Putt, BAFTA chair, previously lauded Langley for her distinguished career. \u201cThe first British woman to lead a major Hollywood studio, Dame Donna Langley\u2019s cultural impact has been exceptional,\u201d she said in unveiling the honor. \u201cBAFTA is honored to celebrate Donna\u2019s transformative studio leadership and strength of her creative relationships, including the many now-iconic films she has brought to audiences around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n In unveiling details about the latest BAFTA Fellowship, BAFTA said Langley \u201chas consistently served as an advocate for acclaimed and emerging filmmakers and showrunners, resulting in a diverse and enduring slate for NBCUniversal.\u00a0As a trusted partner to the creative community, she has championed films that have shaped culture, such as Straight\u00a0Outta\u00a0Compton<\/em>, Bridesmaids<\/em>, Get Out<\/em>, The Holdovers<\/em>, and BAFTA\u2019s best film winner Oppenheimer<\/em>, among many others. All while bolstering beloved franchises \u2013 including Fast & Furious<\/em>, Jurassic World<\/em>, Bridget Jones<\/em>, Mamma Mia<\/em>, and the highest-grossing animated franchise of all time, Despicable Me<\/em>. Most recently, with Wicked<\/em> becoming the highest-grossing film musical of all time, Langley has underscored her ability to translate creative ambition into landmark cultural and commercial success.\u201d\u00a0 The BAFTA Awards, hosted by Scottish star Alan Cumming<\/a>, the presenter and producer of\u00a0The Traitors U.S.<\/em>, took place at London\u2019s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday evening. Full list of winners here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Best of The Hollywood Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for THR’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The star-studded BAFTA Film Awards 2026 ceremony in London on Sunday also put a spotlight on Donna Langley, chair\u00a0of NBCUniversal Entertainment and the first British woman to run a major Hollywood studio. The top executive, born and raised on the Isle of Wight in the U.K., took to the stage to receive the British Academy\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2294326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[360141,444575,397062,34395,309280],"class_list":["post-2294325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-bafta","tag-bafta-fellowship","tag-donna-langley","tag-hollywood-reporter","tag-steven-spielberg"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Donna-Langley-Receives-BAFTA-Fellowship-Touting-Cinemas-Power-to-Help.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2294325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2294327,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294325\/revisions\/2294327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2294326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2294325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2294325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2294325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Concluded BAFTA: \u201cShe also continues to champion bold, creator-driven shows such as\u00a0All Her Fault<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Day of the Jackal<\/em>, helping bring dynamic stories to life for audiences everywhere.\u00a0 Throughout her career, Langley has\u00a0maintained\u00a0a strong commitment to, and investment in, British filmmaking.\u201d<\/p>\n