Nollywood actress reveals she bleached her skin to get movie roles, says directors called her too dark

• Habibat Jinadu said directors favoured fair-skinned and chubby actresses when she was building her career, leaving darker and slimmer women struggling to get roles.

• She said she started bleaching her skin after being repeatedly told she was too dark for movie productions, and noticed that acting opportunities improved afterwards.

• The actress said the bleaching left her skin vulnerable to injuries and that she stopped the practice in 2023 after becoming pregnant.

Nollywood actress Habibat Jinadu has said she bleached her skin to get movie roles because dark-skinned and slim actresses struggled to find opportunities in the industry.

Jinadu made the revelation in an interview with BBC Yoruba, reported on October 29, 2026. 

She said that when she was building her career, directors favoured actresses who were fair-skinned and chubby. Whenever lights were turned on during a shoot, she said, a director would say she was too dark. She said she tried to ignore such comments at first, but an insult about her appearance increased the pressure she felt to change.

"I bleached my skin because if you were dark-skinned, then you would not get a role," she said. She added that slim actresses also struggled to get cast. She said that after she bleached her skin, the roles did come.

She said she was not happy with it but kept going. She said people could no longer recognise her, and that minor bruises on movie sets began causing injuries and skin tears.

The reality became clear in 2023, she said, when she became pregnant and had to stop bleaching her skin.

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She said stopping brought a new problem: people insulted her and called her names over her changed appearance.

Jinadu spoke about similar experiences on Biola Bayo's Talk To B podcast in 2024, where she alleged that she faced humiliating comments about her dark complexion on a movie set.

Actress Linda Osifo has also said she considered lightening her skin after facing discrimination at auditions for roles seeking fair-complexioned actors.

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Many social media users chimed in, saying colourism remains a real problem in the entertainment industry, while others said nobody should be made to feel ashamed of their natural skin, according to Trendnaija.

Health experts have repeatedly warned about the dangers of some skin-lightening creams.