Veteran actress Stella Damasus has opened up about the barriers Nigerian actors face in Hollywood, blaming stereotypical expectations for limiting opportunities.
In a conversation with Arrow House, Damasus explained that the global film industry often holds narrow views about what African actors should look and sound like — often favouring East African accents and darker skin tones.
“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…” she said.
Damasus, who has decades of experience in Nollywood, questioned this rigid perspective, stating: “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.”
She went further to point out that several Nigerian actors who have made it to major Hollywood productions were raised abroad, which likely influenced how they navigated the system.
“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,” she noted.
The actress also recounted a personal experience with filmmakers abroad who reportedly told her, “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.”
Reacting to the encounter, Damasus said: “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.’”
She concluded by urging Hollywood to recognise the rich diversity within Africa instead of boxing African actors into one narrow stereotype.
