Actress Vanessa Bell Calloway Says She Didn’t Get Lead Role in ‘Coming To America’ Because She Was Too Dark

With Coming To America 2’s release just weeks away, an actress from the first movie spoke out about her experience as a dark-skinned woman in the film.

Vanessa Bell Calloway, a veteran actress, told Page Six that she originally auditioned for the lead role “Lisa,” played by actress Shari Headley. The 67-year-old thespian disclosed that she was given a smaller part because she was too dark. 

“When you have white people hiring Black people in movies, sometimes a certain look is wanted,” she told the publication.

Bell Calloway recounted the casting team “wanted a light-skinned girl. I just wasn’t light enough, even though Eddie had the final say on who played Lisa.”

After the actress was rejected for Lisa’s role, she went for the part of “Imani Izzi,” the woman Eddie Murphy’s character “Hakeem” was supposed to marry. She opined about the era and what expectations were among Black actors at that time. She also candidly spoke about colorism being prevalent in the industry.

Bell Calloway explained, “That’s something that we’ve always dealt with within our race: A lot of men were indoctrinated by having a white woman or light-skinned woman on their arm… I didn’t want the part of Imani. I wanted to be Lisa — I had read the script, and I wanted the bigger role.”

She maintained that she was grateful to be in the classic film made in 1989.