“Can I navigate home? This place that I call home? And if I can’t, then is it really?” Those are the questions actor and comedian Yvonne Orji asked herself when she decided to stay in Lagos, Nigeria, on her own for two months at the age of 27. As a young child, she had moved with her family from Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to the United States; after that, the only Nigeria she knew came from summer visits to her hometown, during which she hardly ever left her parents’ side. “My oldest brother spent more time in Nigeria than we did,” Orji tells CNN, and she wanted to experience it more for herself. “It was just like, if this is going to be home, I have to make it mine. I have to make my own friends that don’t have anything to do with my parents.” She went to her father, she says, and told him, “‘Hey dad, I’m just going to stay in Lagos for two months.’ He was like ‘And do what?’ I was like, I’ll figure it out.” Now, nine years later, it seems Orji has it more than figured out. The 36-year-old is best known for her role as Molly in the HBO series “Insecure.” Orji credits the time she took to explore Lagos on her own as big for her, in becoming what she calls “fully Nigerian and also equal parts American.” Culled from CNN.
#yvonneorji #dualcitizenship #African #american #Hollywood #childhood #blacklove #blackhollywood #Celebrity #entertainmentnews #celebritynews #insecure #roots #issarae
42
