Vilma Jackson is an English actor and performer. She is known for portraying the role of Charlie in
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Origi ...
. She is Deaf and a
British Sign Language
British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language among the Deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on ...
user. In 2020 Jackson wrote, produced and performed in a short film, "Triple Oppression", which deals with the challenges she faces as Black, Deaf and a woman. The short won four Best Inspirational Film at the New York Film Awards, the FilmCon Awards, Festigious International Film Festival and Los Angeles Film Awards. In 2021 she launched her own chat show, available online.
Biography
Jackson grew up in Mozambique and attended boarding school in Portugal, before moving to London, where she attended
Harrow College
Harrow College is a further education college in the London Borough of Harrow, England, with two campuses in Harrow and Harrow Weald.http://www.educationuk.org/pls/hot_bc/bc_profile.page_pls_profile_details?x=133784075207&y=0&a=0&z=869&p_prof_i ...
studying Performing Arts and also trained in the Meisner Acting Technique. Her career spans film, stage, television drama, music video, public service broadcasting and theatre credits.
She has collaborated with deaf poet
Raymond Antrobus
Raymond Antrobus is a British poet, educator and writer, who has been performing poetry since 2007. In March 2019 he won the Ted Hughes Award for new work in poetry.Teresa Garratty, which won her Best Performance at OutlantaCon Short Film Festival in 2020, and in the short "Sign Night" with actress
Sophie Stone
Sophie Leigh Stone (born c. 1981) is an English stage and television actress. She was the first deaf student to win a place at the drama school RADA. she is best known for her roles as Louise in Two Doors Down and Doctor Who as Cass.
Life and ...
, which was broadcast on the BBC.
She is a dancer and sign-song performer and she uses her performance to discuss in Sign Language essential issues such as cultural appropriation and the
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...