Los Angeles, Mar 8 (IANS): Actor Colin Firth has become vice president of a speech therapy charity in Britain.

The actor, who won an Academy Award for playing stuttering British monarch King George Vi in 2010 drama "The King's Speech", his supporting the Action for Stammering Children organisation, reports contactmusic.com.

Politician Ed Balls announced Firth's appointment at an event in London this week, explaining, "Following his Oscar-winning role, Colin has now visited the charity in Leeds (England), and the Michael Palin Centre in Islington (north London) twice - and seen the completely transformatory work that Action for Stammering Children is doing for young people and the support it provides for parents as well.

"And so struck has he been that he has agreed to become a vice president of Action for Stammering Children, to help us with the next phase of work and keep raising the profile of the charity and change the perception of stammering," added Balls.