Bridgerton actress Adjoa Andoh has called out the widespread practice of not lighting Black actors properly in the TV industry.
- READ MORE: ‘Bridgerton’ season three review: still sweet and seductive but the taste is growing stale
The actress, who plays Lady Danbury in the show, has often spoken about racism in the entertainment world and pointed out that issues relating to race extend to the way Black actors are lit on camera, which are “tiring” to continually correct.
In an interview on Miquita Oliver’s Stirring It Up podcast, Andoh said: “The continuing conversation about lighting Black skin on every show. Nothing’s changed. They’re getting better, so I suppose I feel powerful in that I will now go, ‘Am I blonde?’”
“I hate doing it because a bit of me is like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to make a fuss’. I don’t want to because I want to come and do my work.
“I don’t want to have to walk onto set [and raise an issue]. I want to be Lady Danbury and be totally engaged in that.
“When people say we’re being chippy or militant, I want to say that I’m just a human being and I just want to do the gift I’m blessed with and I want to do it in a free way.
“I’m not asking for a special revelation – I just want to live in my gift.”
She described the battle with production teams as “very tiring and very distracting”, adding “that’s not my shit – I don’t want to talk about it”.
In other Bridgerton related news, the show’s casting director Kelly Valentine Hendry has revealed that she’s receiving tons of “unsolicited” fan auditions for season four of the Netflix period romance, saying that some are “basically” sex tapes.
“It’s every day… I get the most unbelievable videos, unsolicited,” Hendry said. “It’s sex basically. It’s not actual sex but it’s quite punchy. It’s not nude pictures, but not far off.”
According to the casting director, her inbox is always “90 percent” full of emails from fans seeking a part on Bridgerton. She explained that fans are currently gunning for the role of Sophie Beckett, who in the novels is the love interest of Benedict Bridgerton (played by Luke Thompson on the Netflix series).
The streamer confirmed this week that Benedict would be the central focus of the show’s fourth season. Season four does not currently have a confirmed release date, although it has been reported by Forbes that shooting for the season began in April 2024. It is predicted the new episodes will land in 2025.
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