Nollywood actress Diva Gold has stirred strong reactions after revealing how audience preferences are hindering the growth of new talents in the English-speaking sector of the industry, while praising the Yoruba sector for being more welcoming to fresh faces.
In a frank interview on the Conversations With Kenni podcast hosted by Kehinde Ajose, the rising actress explained why many new talents, including herself, often start their acting careers in the Yoruba movie industry.
“The reason people like me get into the Yoruba sector of Nollywood at the starts of our careers is because the English sector is used to using some certain faces and the audience want the faces they already know.”
Diva Gold pointed out that audience behaviour directly influences producers’ decisions. She recalled seeing a movie reviewer’s post on TikTok where fans openly admitted they wouldn’t watch films without familiar stars.
“I saw a comment that said ‘if I don’t see a face I know, I won’t be watching them,’ and another person replied saying, ‘me too.’ So I replied them with my stance that they’re the reasons producers can’t grow new faces because they fear that their investments in new faces would go to waste.”
She contrasted this with the Yoruba sector, noting that fans there are more loyal and open to new talents.
“Yoruba movie fans are loyal. They just want an interesting movie and even if it’s not, they’ll just watch it and abuse you and they’re always excited to see new faces. So I don’t blame people that actually come to the Yoruba sector.”
She also disclosed that some of her English-speaking colleagues have asked her how to break into the Yoruba movie scene due to limited opportunities for upcoming actors in the English sector.
On dealing with negative comments online, the actress admitted she used to respond aggressively but has now adopted a calmer approach.
“The way I used to deal with negative comments was the aura for aura method… but towards the end of last year, I got to realize that most of those people dropping the negative comments weren’t even worth it.”
Diva Gold now chooses to ignore comments or respond politely with “thank you very much, God bless you,” which often leaves critics apologising.