- Stella Damasus discusses challenges faced by Nigerian actors in Hollywood.
- She highlights Hollywood’s limited portrayal of African characters.
- There is an expectation for African roles to have East African accents.
Veteran Nollywood star Stella Damasus has shed light on why Nigerian actors often find it difficult to secure roles in Hollywood productions.
In her remarks, she pointed out that Hollywood tends to portray Africans with a narrow lens expecting all African characters to have East African accents and resemble Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o in appearance.
Damasus explained that this stereotype creates a mismatch for many Nigerian actors, who don’t fit that mold. She further noted that most Nigerians who land leading roles in Hollywood typically grew up or were trained abroad, which often gives them an edge.
In a conversation with Arrow House, 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.’”
