Actress, Beverly Afaglo, has disclosed that dark-skinned actresses found it difficult to gain major roles in movies since filmmakers preferences were only light-skinned.
That, she said got many talented dark-skinned actors sidelined in the industry.
Speaking in an interview on Joy Learning TV, Afaglo disclosed that there was a strong preference for lighter-skinned actors, a trend driven by the belief that they looked more appealing on screen.
“Our time, what most of the producers were doing was, you had to be a half-cast. I think Jackie Appiah was the only person because she was a star already, so they needed her,” she stated.
Afaglo mentioned that the pressure during auditions was even immense, as one mistake could cost aspiring actors rare opportunities.
“There was talent. It wasn’t about beauty or what you were wearing or anything. Everybody was ready to act. People were acting. We were really daring.”
“People could master lines in one minute because when you get that chance to audition, it was your only shot, and the queue behind you was so long that you didn’t want to make a mistake,” she recounted.
However, the trend Afaglo said took a paradigm shift when the stories demanded inclusivity for certain roles.
“It got to a time when they didn’t have a choice but to use us because most of the stories that were coming out were about kingdoms, princesses, ‘girls-girls’, and those kinds of stories. You couldn’t use just one person; you needed everybody. So they knew that they had to work with us,” she explained
