US-based Nigerian actress, Stella Damasus has explained why we don’t see Nigerian acts feature in Hollywood.
The thespian in an interview with Pulse noted that Nollywood actors do not meet certain casting requirements as they are not considered ‘African’ enough by Hollywood producers.
She further revealed that only Africans who grew up in the United Kingdom or the United States stand a chance in Hollywood.
Speaking to Pulse TV on how hard it is for Nigerians to land roles in Hollywood, Stella Damasus said:
It’s very hard. If you notice, most of the Nigerians that have done big screen movies in Hollywood are people that were raised in England. Most of them have a different type of accent. They are Nigerians from the UK. David Oyelowo, John Boyega, Leticia Wright, all of those people. Even other people from other African countries that have made it into the big screen movies, most of them came from the UK. So for us, let me use myself for example, I’ve gone to meet certain agents and managers who have told me “oh we’ll love to work with you but we will need to make sure that there are enough roles for someone like you”. I was like “What do you mean someone like me?” Then they said to me “we want an African to be very dark. That’s the kind of African that we are used to. We’re not used to your type of African. We want Lupita dark.” I was like ok. They said, “So you’re not dark enough and you’re not white, you’re not light enough to be half-cast so it’s hard to place you. You’re not mixed race. Then your accent. You don’t sound American. You don’t sound British. Neither do you sound African.” I’m like how do you think Africans sound? Because Africa is filled with a million and one countries and inside those countries, we have different dialects and different accents. They’re like “No. There’s a particular kind of accent that you must have.” So that’s why they force our people to put it on. We don’t talk like that. Maybe one or two small countries in East Africa but I’m Nigerian, there are Ghanaians, there are different people and we all sound different, but we don’t sound like this (caricature voice). They’re like “But that’s what Hollywood wants. That’s what they’re used to. They’re not used to people like you yet.” I’m like okay. We’ll do our thing. We’ll make our money. But then we have to come back home and say okay, this is where things are. This is where we’re known. This is where we’re appreciated. Na so we see am.
Stella’s account has an undertone of racism and we love how she kept on riding with some of the agents who revealed how Hollywood works
Watch the full interview below:
