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How does an actor of colour gain access to training and how is it experienced? How does an actor of colour prepare for a role and does it differ for stage and for screen? How does an actor of colour relate to and negotiate the stage and screen industry with the acknowledged levels of unconscious bias? This groundbreaking book provides an opportunity to hear from Black actors working in the UK and USA on stage and screen on these very issues and more. The interviewed actors consider and discuss their careers to date and the impact that racial diversity has had on them as individuals. They delve into how it has shaped opportunities that were presented to them as actors. Structured around the classic 7 questions that character-creation is predicated on, the book offers up rare multi-perspective insights into approaches to actor training, professional experiences, narrative voices and creative process, all the while negotiating the relationship between race, opportunity and the ambition to succeed in the screen and stage industry as a Black actor. Intervieews include Cush Jumbo, Michaela Cole, Thandiwe Newton, Sophie Okenedo, David Kaluuya, Gemma Chan, Chitiwel Ejiofor, Idris Elba, Paapa Essiedu, Zawe Ashton, among many others.
About the author
Pamela Jikiemi is Head of Film, TV and Radio at RADA, UK. She classically trained at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) with postgraduate study completed at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCCSD). She is currently a PhD candidate exploring representation in actor training. She has worked creatively and extensively as an actor (television, radio, film, theatre and voiceover, nationally and internationally) in senior management and as Department Head/Unit Leader/Visiting Lecturer in broadcast, VFX/design post production, digital media, actor training, theatre and screen. She has published a chapter titled, “Training or Racialisation? The Case of the Black British Trainee Actor” in Progress in Education 56.
