Nollywood actress Beverly Naya has disclosed how her British accent has been a hindrance to her in the movie industry.
One of the Nigerian actresses who stand out due to her British accent is Beverly Naya. According to the actress during an interview with Chude Jideonwo, her actress was a hindrance to her movie career in Nigeria as people felt intimated around her. Beverly Naya who started acting at age 17 disclosed that her accent did not play any vital role in paving a way for her in Nollywood movie production. “I wish! No, it wasn’t. If anything, it has been a hindrance. A hindrance in the sense that it limits you as far as roles go. But then outside of that cuz that’s not even the main thing for me because I’ve been fortunate enough to play really strong and amazing roles. The main thing is it intimidates people sometimes. I think now, no, because people in my industry are very much used to my accent. But in my earlier years, yeah. People found it intimidating and they were for whatever reason threatened by it and felt like I automatically just by default felt like I was better than other people because I had a very different orientation. And that was really really hard for me. So till now, I have had an alter ego and that alter ego is very razz. And do you know why that is? It’s because in my early years in the industry, I needed to have one because that was the only way people would just realize that I’m cool, that I’m chilled. That I could be playful. Because then they would realize, “no she’s not like that”. So I tried to drop it for years because that alter ego is hella razz. It’s because of that, but now it’s because of part of me. Because in my early years, I just wanted people to like me. But now it’s just me.”