By Stephanie Korney, Jamaicans
Jamaicans have often faced challenges in getting Hollywood to create roles that allow them to be authentic. Many roles offered to Jamaican actors are generally for characters who are violent gangsters or “Bob Marley types” with bad Jamaican accents. Actress Keturah Hamilton, who has worked in the entertainment capital for over ten years, well knows the situation, and so it was with considerable national pride that she took roles in two projects that “brought out my roots.”
Hamilton will co-star in “Gaslit,” an upcoming television series on the Starz network that stars entertainment heavyweights Julia Roberts, Sean Penn, and Allison Tolman. She plays a Jamaican nurse in the series. In the other project, Hamilton will feature in the film “Nanny” in which she plays a Jamaican nanny. The film stars Anna Diop, Phylicia Rashad, and Leslie Uggams. Both projects will be released in 2022, and both portray the significant contributions made by Jamaicans to the American health sector. Hamilton said she was honored to be selected for both roles because the producers were actually looking for an “authentic Jamaican actress.”
In addition to her acting and modeling, Hamilton is the founder of the Keturah Hamilton Foundation, a nonprofit organization with the mission to make a difference in people’s lives. Focusing chiefly on education, the Foundation seeks to transform the lives of less fortunate young people and to educate Jamaicans and others around the world by providing scholarships and educational materials.
Photo Source – Keturah Hamilton Facebook