• Helen Asante has bemoaned how ‘light weight’ actresses are being side-lined in the movie industry
• According to her, movie producers will rather opt for thick looking Ghanaian women instead of the petite ones
• Helen said in Ghana, individuals with huge bodies are perceived to be matured
Ghanaian actress, Helen Asante has disclosed how she lost some chances to stare in movies because of her petite body size.
Helen recounted a point in time where mature roles eluded her because movie producers will rather opt for thick women.
Speaking to Elsie Lamar on Talkertainment, Helen said it was the case that most people thought she wasn’t Ghanaian.
“This was my number one challenge at the start of my career. I lost roles because of my weight. They never thought I could play certain roles I knew I could. I was never given the chance to play the role of a typical Ghanaian woman. At a point, some people even thought I wasn’t Ghanaian because I didn’t have the back or front. I was denied such roles because I was flat. It is not about the size but rather about the character you’re playing. If you give me a character like this, by the time I’m done with hair, costume and so on, I won’t even be recognized,” she stated.
“The funny thing is you might be big but not old. But here our mentality is that anybody who has a big body is matured. So what happens is that these producers give women with big bodies a mature role and petite women like myself a child role. It was a big deal and I struggled through. But here in Ghana, it’s either you’re heavyweight or light-skinned,” Helen continued.
Helen said she got frustrated to a point where she craved the chance to join the Hollywood industry adding that her body size will be more appreciated there.
“At a point, I felt I needed to get out of the country because they don’t appreciate my size. it is only Hollywood that can appreciate my size. Jayda Pinkett is my size,” she said.
Watch the video below