Ghanaian actress Beverly Afaglo has shared how difficult it was for dark-skinned actors to get roles in the movie industry when she started her career.

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Speaking in an interview on Joy Learning TV, she revealed that many producers preferred casting light-skinned actors, believing they looked better on screen.

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"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.

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

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Beverly also described how tough auditions were, as actors had very few chances to impress casting directors.

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“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.

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"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.

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According to her, things only changed when movie storylines required diverse actors, forcing producers to work with dark-skinned talents.

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"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 about kingdoms, 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 explained.

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