Ghanaian actress and entrepreneur Beverly Afaglo has opened up about the challenges she faced during the early years of her acting career.

She explained that movie producers often preferred light-skinned actors and actresses for roles.

“Our time, what most of the producers were doing was, you have to be a half-cast. I think Jackie Appiah was the only person because she was a star already so they needed her,” she said.

She made this revelation when speaking on The Career Trail program on Joy Learning TV and Joy News.

The actress further explained that the preference for light-skinned actors was rooted in the belief that they looked better on screen.

"Producers thought light-skinned actors looked better on TV. As a result, most of them preferred casting light-skinned individuals,” she added.

Despite their talent, the actress explained how this bias made it difficult for her and many other actors to land roles.

“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 can master lines in one minute because when you get that chance to audition for a role, it was your only chance and the queue behind you was so long that you don’t want to make a mistake. But the casting for producers made it difficult for us to get into the acting field,” she narrated.

She went on to share how the narrative eventually shifted, as producers began to include more black actors when they needed certain roles.

“It got to a time that they didn’t have a choice but to use us because at that time, most of the stories that were out were kingdom, princesses, girls-girls, those stories. So girls-girls, you will need us. You can’t use just one person, you need everybody. So they knew that they had to work with us,” she stated.