Kidulthood star Femi Oyeniran: 'We need radical change to get black and working-class actors on screen'
Kidulthood star Femi Oyeniran has called for “radical reform” to enable more black and working-class actors to get into film and television.
The actor, writer and director called for money to be ringfenced to back emerging talent, saying broadcasters tended to dismiss those from black or working-class backgrounds.
He warned that working-class people are no longer getting on television other than in “derisive” shows such as Channel 4 documentary series Benefits Street.
Oyeniran, who played Mooney in 2006’s Kidulthood and starred in its sequel Adulthood, moved to London from Nigeria in the Eighties.
“There’s not enough black actors or emerging black talent on British TV” he said. “The industry needs to get over itself.
"I go to meetings every day with broadcasters, they tell you that there is no black talent — ‘We have looked and looked, but they do not exist.’ It does exist. They need to stop lying.”
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Broadcasters “have a penchant for using the same people time and again. Unless you are an established black actor, you are not going to get an opportunity.”
Oyeniran, 29, added: “It’s not just a black thing, it is a working-class thing.
“That’s what no one is talking about. That’s what’s scary. When I came to England in ‘87 there were lots of working-class people on TV.
"Now there aren’t unless they are being derided on Benefits Street.” He agreed with Sir Lenny Henry’s view that funding should be ringfenced to support new talent.
Oyeniran, whose movie The Intent is out this year, is an ambassador for the British Urban Film Festival (BUFF) Awards on September 18. The shortlist is out next month.
