Fast rising Nollywood actress Adesua Etomi, whose stellar performance in the movie Knocking on Heaven’s Door endeared her to Nigerian movie lovers spoke to Encomium Magazine recently about the idea that ‘light-skinned actresses get more movie roles’
“In the early days of my career, it was the challenge of being given an opportunity to show my acting skills. Thankfully with time this has gotten better. Now, maybe it would be the challenge of type-casting. It’s very easy to find yourself in a box because of a previous performance. I have so much acting to give and I would love to show how diverse I can be, if given a chance. An actor lives to play different people. And last, there is the prejudice of being light skinned. There is a school of thought that says Nollywood likes light skinned actors, so a few mischievous people will allude to that being a reason for the amount of work that has fallen on my plate. I wish this was the case and while everyone is entitled to their opinion, no Director has told me I got a role because I was light skinned.”