Sought After Black Panther Actress Letitia Wright Discusses Ethnic Diversity in Hollywood and Altering Herself to Fit In

This week’s issue of ES Magazine, out Thursday 13th December

This week, actress Letitia Wright, discusses what needs to be done to establish ethnic diversity in Hollywood, how she’s changed herself to fit in within westernised society, and her lack of embarrassment of taking part in romantic scenes in her new role in The Convert.

‘The Convert’ runs until 26 January at the Young Vic (youngvic.org).

Interview Highlights

On the steps that need to be taken for ethnic diversity in Hollywood "I think we’ll know that things are better when we stop asking questions about it,’ [she says authoritatively] ‘The people I’m around — Michael B Jordan, John Boyega, Danai Gurira, Chadwick Boseman — are making movies, producing, writing, coming up with solutions. I think everybody putting these ideas into the world is helping. And it’s inspiring me to create my own stories, too. So when we don’t have to ask the question, we’ll know we’ve arrived."

On creating a new Westernised persona to fit in "I remember starting primary school here and realising that if I spoke with my [Guyanese] accent I would get laughed at,’ [she remembers, between delicate bites of her chicken wings and fries]. ‘So I’d go home and change the way I spoke; make it more British and acceptable."

On feeling no awkwardness around romantic scenes with co-star John Boyega "No, because John is a good friend of mine,’ [she says.] ‘More than anything I’m just really happy to see this kind of story being told. It’s two people in love facing an obstacle. [They could have cast] anyone but it ended up being us."

On the representation of religion in her new role "When I read it, it [seemed to be] asking what Christianity or Catholicism would look like if it hadn’t been forced upon a society and a culture,’ [says Wright, who is Christian herself]. ‘That question flows through-out the whole play and made me look at myself, too."

The full interview appears in this week’s issue of ES Magazine, out Thursday 13th December 2018

About ESI Media
ESI Media is the commercial division of the London Evening Standard, The Independent and London Live. ESI Media has a monthly cross-platform UK reach of 23m adults. The London Evening Standard is read by over 1.7m people every day and the Independent is visited by over 90m global unique browsers each month. London Live is London’s first dedicated 24/7 TV entertainment channel and has a growing audience reaching a million Londoners every week. @ESI_Media