Adunni Ade, an actress, has spoken up about her challenges to secure roles in Nollywood due to her skin tone.
In a recent interview with Channels TV, the actress whose father is Nigerian and whose mother is a descent of German-Irish said that it was difficult for her to get acting roles because “scripts are not written for people who look like her.”
“I have said this quite a few times, and whenever I say this, it’s not about me being negative or trying to put the film industry in a negative light. But you really have to be sincere if you want to talk about filmmaking. Script are not written for people who look like me because, typically here in Nigeria, we are all black,” she told Channels TV.
She continued by saying that although skin lightening is becoming more common, especially in Nollywood, having light skin and being partially white are two distinct things.
She said,
“Yes, a lot of females, even males, will like to be light skinned, maybe add one of two things to look light skinned, but being light skin and having this colour are two different things. They can still pass and still get roles easier than I would. I’m more on the white side.”
She clarified, that this didn’t stop her from making films for the Nigerian movie business. From then, she has worked to further her career as a producer, producing the film Soole in 2021.
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“Because I wasn’t getting the roles that I wanted, it pushed me into filmmaking,” she said during the interview. “And one of the core things I said I will never do is to cast someone based on their colour. Everybody, anybody, as long as you’re human, you will always have a chance on my set. As long as you can interpret the character, I will give you a shot,” she added.
