Bridgeton’s Lady Danbury, aka Adjoa Andoh, has recently spoken about why she doesn’t feel “empowered” in her career yet and hasn’t reached the point where she feels fully comfortable playing her roles.
During a recent episode of the Stirring It Up podcast, Andoh, who stars in Netflix’s Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte, shared that despite working in the industry for many years, she still has not reached the point where she feels comfortable doing her roles. She said, “The continuing conversation about lighting Black skin. On every show, nothing’s changed.”
She further continued explaining that although awareness about the need to properly light various skin tones is improving, Black actors still face a unique responsibility to advocate for themselves, a challenge that white actors typically do not encounter. She added, “I want to stay in character. I just want to come on and be Lady Danbury and do what she’s got to do and be totally engaged with that.”
When one of the podcasts’ hosts chimed in, sharing that if “Nicole Kidman walks onto the set and the lighting was for Black skin, she’d go, ‘What’s with the weird lighting?” They went on to say it would be fixed without a question, and “no one would think she was being picky.”
While Andoh acknowledged that she sometimes feels empowered to advocate for Black actors on Bridgerton, she admitted that this isn’t always the case. She said, “I will now go: ‘Am I blond?’ But I hate doing it because a bit of me is like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to make a fuss.’ When people say we’re chippy or we’re being militant or we’re all that stuff, what I want to say is, ‘I’m just a human being and I just want to do the gift that I’m blessed with. I want to do it in a free way like I see many other people doing.’”
The 61-year-old explained that she often wonders whether her race influences her getting or not getting roles, describing this as “very tiring and very distracting.” She emphasized that being Black shouldn’t carry the weight it does in the entertainment industry. “I don’t want to think about it. I just want to get the job because I’m great, or not get the job because I’m s—,” she added.
Bridgerton Season 1-3 is streaming on Netflix.
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