Nathalie Emmanuel Opens up About New ‘Fast and Furious’ and ‘Existing Barriers’ Against Black Actors in the U.K.
Nathalie Emmanuel sat down with Essence in a recent interview. The F9 actress discussed different topics, such as her most recent movies and discrimination against Black actors in the U.K. Best known as Daenerys Targaryen’s trusted advisor, Missandei, Emmanuel got emotional when talking about the barriers placed on people of diverse backgrounds in the entertainment industry and British actors mass exodus from the U.K. to the U.S.
i can’t breathe these #FastAndFurious movies have been so fucking ridiculous but this new one…. it made no sense but i love it and nathalie emmanuel is the best addition to the family 🫂❤️
— ellen (@wildsdany) June 27, 2021
Just saw #F9. Absolutely absurd film. Loved it! There was a chase scene set 500m from the cinema I was in and Nathalie Emmanuel gives George Street a wrecking. Result.
— Stuart Kenny (@StuartKenny) June 24, 2021
“The British industry hasn’t always embraced us, and I think so many Black and mixed people like myself have come out to America because the opportunities just weren’t here for us,” Emmanuel said. “And unfortunately, what’s happened is that a lot of Black talent has been lost to the States.”
Indeed, Hollywood still has a lot of work to do to make the entertainment industry more inclusive; however, it’s more diverse than the U.S.’s British counterpart.
“It’s not like we hadn’t been calling for this for many years, it was just falling on dead ears,” she said, “while it has its issues too, and while we’re still calling for necessary, important change in the U.S., there being more possibilities across the pond for Black actors means Black Brits are going to continue to make the leap.
“I think, frankly, that the U.S. has so much more opportunity for people of all kinds of backgrounds, and all kinds of like people,” she said. “The industry is bigger so there’s more being made, and there’s kind of space for more people.”
Furthermore, the actress expressed her gratitude to the U.S. about being able to pursue her dreams.
“I kind of just took a risk, like, ‘I guess I’m going to try and make it in the States,’ and I feel really proud of that,” she continued. “The fact that the universe has decided, ‘Nathalie, this is going to happen.’ It’s surreal. I pinch myself regularly.”
During the interview, Emmanuel explains how it feels about the lack of diversity and how it impacts kids. She was thrilled about being a role model for young girls of color and loved hearing stories about the girls embracing themselves because of her.
“It’s always really heartwarming when I have someone come up to me and they say, ‘Oh, my daughter, she hated her hair, she hated her skin, she hated these things about herself, and then she saw you. And then, she now like, loves herself,’” Emmanuel said “it literally makes me want to cry because I was that little girl, so the fact that I can be that for someone else is lovely.”
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