•Stella Damasus
Actress Stella Damasus has opened up on the challenges Nigerian actors face in securing Hollywood roles due to industry stereotypes.
In a conversation with Arrow House, she noted that Hollywood often expects African actors to have East African accents and darker skin tones, similar to Lupita.
According to her, this expectation can make it difficult for Nigerian actors to fit into these roles.
Damasus also pointed out that many Nigerian actors who have succeeded in Hollywood were raised abroad, which may have helped them adapt to the industry’s expectations.
She emphasised the diversity of Africa, with its many countries, dialects, and accents, and questions the notion of a single “African” accent or look.
Damasus explained: “Hollywood filmmakers insist that there is a particular accent that Africans who want to act in their industry must have. So, that’s why they forced our people to put it on…
“I’m like, we [Nigerians] don’t sound like that, maybe one or two small countries in East Africa. I’m Nigerian, they are Ghanaians. We are different people and we all sound different. We [Nigerians] don’t sound like this. That’s what Hollywood wants. That’s what they are used to.
“Most of the Nigerians who have done big screen movies in Hollywood are people who were raised in England. Most of them have a different type of accent. And they [Hollywood filmmakers] said to me, ‘We want an African to be very dark.
“That’s the kind of African that we are used to. We are not used to your kind of African. We want Lupita dark. You are not dark enough and you are not white enough to be half-caste, so it would be hard to place you. You are not mixed race. Then your accent, you don’t sound American or British, neither do you sound African.’
“And I’m like, ‘How do you think Africans sound? Because Africa is full of a million and one countries. And inside those countries, we have different dialects and different accents.’”
