British-born Nigerian actress, Beverly Naya has opened up on how her British accent has been more of an hindrance for her, rather than a blessing.
The 33-year old black beauty made the shocking revelation in her interview with media personality, Chude Jideonwo.
When an actress has a British accent in a Nollywood production, it easily stands out, and in the case of Beverly Naya, she says that this thing which a lot of Nigerians desire has earned her enemies and naysayers.
When the screen diva was asked if her accent paved way for her in Nollywood Beverly responded saying:
“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 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 part of me. Because in my early years, I just wanted people to like me. But now it’s just me.”
Beverly Naya began acting at the age of 17 and studied filmmaking at Roehampton University in London.
