Beverly Naya, the British-born Nigerian actress and producer has recently released Skin on Netflix, a documentary that explores colourism, and the effects that this form of discrimination has on black women in society.
The documentary landed on Netflix last month. It has been long awaited by supporters and fans of Beverly Naya, who has been sharing snippets of the award-winning documentary on her Instagram page.
Arriving at a time where anti-racism and the Black Lives Matter movement has been gaining much deserved traction, Skin shines even more light on the discrimination that black women face on a daily basis. Skin producer Beverly Naya has previously spoken out about the issues that black women face with regards to colourism, particularly in the film and media industry.
So, who is actress, producer, and entrepreneur Beverly Naya?
We’re going to take a closer look at the Netflix documentary Skin, and find out a bit more about Beverly Naya.
Who is Beverly Naya producer of Skin?
Beverly Naya, whose full name is Beverly Ifunaya Bassey, is an actor, producer, and entrepreneur. She was born and grew up in London, where she studied philosophy, psychology, and sociology at Brunel University. Later, she also studied scriptwriting and filmmaking and Roehampton University.
After she finished studying, Skin producer Beverly Naya relocated to Nigeria, where she pursued her career in acting. She has featured in many films, and won awards including the City People Entertainment Award for Fast Rising Actress in 2011.
Before the release of Netflix documentary Skin, Beverly spoke openly about the bullying she faced growing up in the UK. The low-esteem and damage that this caused her inspired her to make the documentary Skin.
Let’s look more at Beverly Naya’s documentary Skin.
What do we know about Netflix Skin?
Beverly Naya’s production Skin is an hour-long documentary that deals with the issue of colourism faced by black women in Nigeria.
Colourism is different to racism; in that it is discrimination based on the shade of a person’s skin tone. As we learn in Skin, colourism is particularly common amongst people of the same racial or ethnic group.
Beverly Naya in her Netflix documentary, interviews and talks with black women in Nigeria, about their experiences of colourism. They talk openly with the actor about the different treatment they receive because of the colour of their skin.
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As mentioned in Skin, colourism is especially prominent in the media and film industries. Black women in this industry are often passed over for roles in favour of those with lighter skin tones. In Skin, we meet another British-Nigerian actress, Diana Yekini, who talks of her experience working in the film industry. She details how on a film set in Nigeria, she was told to lighten her skin or risk losing more jobs.
Beverly Naya discusses the importance of changing these perceptions, encouraging women to love their skin to help combat colourism.
Netflix documentary Skin isn’t the first time that Beverly Naya has raised awareness to promote self-love. When she was in her twenties, Beverly launched an anti-bullying campaign. This helped her regain her confidence after her struggle with bullying at school.
Have you watched Beverly Naya’s documentary Skin on Netflix yet? Let us know in the comments below!
