Georgina Lara Booth


Georgina Lara Booth FRSA is a British-Dutch humanitarian public figure and actress from London, England and the Netherlands. She was the first person from the Netherlands to receive the International Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Award in 2013.

Biography

In order to raise money for young victims of the 2004 Tsunami disaster, Booth organized a highly publicized music concert in the Netherlands that attracted thousands of visitors when she was just 10 years old. Playgrounds and sports fields were built in Indonesia with the funds raised by Booth through her benefit concert. Subsequently, Booth was officially appointed to the prominent position of Humanitarian Youth Ambassador for Haarlemmermeer, one of the largest municipalities in the Netherlands. She was also the first and youngest youth ambassador to have been appointed by the governmental officials of the municipality and she played an important role in the promotion of the Dutch municipality's youth policy. She also served as the source of inspiration for humanitarian work to all young people of the municipality.
At the age of 16, Booth established her own foundation, 4U&U Foundation, of which she is the president and founding board member. Her foundation's goals are to encourage young people to volunteer and to promote world peace through social media and peace-related activities. 4U&U Foundation also aims to organize benefit events in order to raise money for projects involving children from underprivileged backgrounds around the world.
Besides serving her foundation as president, Booth also holds the title of Ambassador of Peace of the National Ministry of Peace in the Netherlands. She was the youngest ever Ambassador of Peace when she established her Embassy of Peace on a regional scale in the Netherlands in 2012. Her Embassy of Peace was central to all world peace and security related activities during Peace Week and the National Day of Peace declared by the United Nations in the district of her embassy. Booth organized many activities as an Ambassador of Peace, ranging from a Masquerade Peace Ball in the Dutch National Museum of Ethnology to lectures and debates about peace with many prominent experts, including the former Defense Minister of the Netherlands Joris Voorhoeve, Dutch MP Harry van Bommel and Dutch musician Merlijn Twaalfhoven about conflicts surrounding raw materials in countries such as Congo, Colombia and Sudan.
In 2005, Booth won a nationwide competition to design the new national slogan for Unicef's Kids United in the Netherlands. Her slogan "Van Pool tot Pool, elk kind naar school!" was published on posters, flags, magazines, flyers, and other merchandise and was also mentioned on the Kids United TV show.

Awards

For her humanitarian work, Booth has been recognized nationally and internationally and she has received multiple awards for her work, including an Honorary Medal from the Netherlands Public Broadcasting Television Station, awarded by Dutch MP Femke Halsema, and the Gold International Award for Young People. At the age of 17, Booth was the youngest of the top 5 final lobbyists of 'Holland's Next Top Lobbyist' named by Amnesty International, Oxfam Novib and IKV Pax Christi.
In 2013, at the age of 18, Booth was honoured by being the first recipient of the International Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Award from the Netherlands, awarded by British Prime Minister David Cameron.
At the age of 20, Booth was honoured by being elected to the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts in London, UK, for achievement and contribution to the arts and society. As a Fellow, she has the honour of carrying the post-nominal title FRSA. Current elected fellows include Stephen Hawking, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Ian McEwan. Past Fellows have included Benjamin Franklin, Karl Marx, Marie Curie and Charles Dickens.

Acting career

Besides humanitarian work, Booth is an actress for television, film and theatre. She has appeared in various professional productions ranging from starring in the European TV show Le Camping with Flemish Sesame Street actress Sien Diels to a Stephen King film with fellow Dutch actress Lisa Smit, performing on the NCRV children’s TV show Buya with Jetske van den Elsen and performing in theatre at the Dutch Children’s Rights festival with fellow Dutch actors Victoria Koblenko and Bas Muijs. Booth trained in acting at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and in method acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York City.