Her love for the film industry started when she received her first role in BBC's children's television drama series Grange Hill.

She founded a production company, Tantrum Films, where she wrote and produced two series of the BBC Two drama Brothers and Sisters (1998).

[10] As a young 17-year-old, Leigh Anne (Stephanie James), finds it difficult to get by, especially due to the medical expenses that her daughter Eli Williams, incurred.

It also touches on the theme of cultural conflict, with their neighbour Hassan Osman (played by Oliver Haden), who had been the victim of a beating, after being accused of reporting Leigh Anne to social services for child neglect.

[12] In February 2005, Asante was named The Times newspaper's Breakthrough Artist of the Year and was nominated for Best Newcomer at both the Evening Standard and London Film Critics award ceremonies.

[20] The film is based on Dido Elizabeth Belle, and depicts an illegitimate mixed-race daughter of an enslaved African woman and a Royal Navy captain.

[24] A special screening of the film took place at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 2 April 2014, as part of the UN commemorative events on slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.

[25] The same week, Asante was honoured by BAFTA in both Los Angeles and New York as a "Brit to Watch", where special screenings of Belle were held to celebrate her work.

[29] The film A United Kingdom, which Asante directed in 2016, features David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike portraying the main protagonists of the real-life story,[30] who marry, and with the coming independence of Bechuanaland, decide to move back there, despite British opposition to their relationship.

[31] A United Kingdom is based on the 2006 book by historian Susan Williams entitled Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation.

[30] During the IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards ceremony, Oyelowo mentions adding A United Kingdom to his list of movies because it was an African-based story directed by a female filmmaker.

[35][36] Asante is set to direct a film adaptation of the book The Billion Dollar Spy, starring Mads Mikkelsen.