Irish | Irish/Ghanaian
My Mother was born in Liverpool, she has Irish heritage. My Father was also born in Liverpool but has mixed Irish & Ghanaian heritage. I never really thought about how I identify myself, I think that is part of what being mixed is. I am all things and nothing completely, I am not completely White, I am not completely Black. I was adopted out of the family, I only found my sister 20 years ago and that was the first time I found a sense of belonging because I saw someone that looks like me. We both grew up in very White families, we did not physically see ourselves in any one around us so for both of us it was the same thing when we found each other. I don’t think there was anyone of representation in film, magazine or media, so I did not see myself in my family. I did not see myself in any kind of representation on screen, so I have always been quite singular in my identity and not of any formal religion. It’s not by design that I had my son and then found my sister. I suddenly had something to identify with in my son, also it was important to be able to tell him his roots and his story. So it became a much stronger impulse to find my biological family then. As an actress, I could never play ‘family members‘, as we did not look like each other. I grew up having to tell myself it was ok to be different because I was always different. But I did not know why, I created my celebration from that. So, when I found out why, all it did was confirm the reason I was always aware I was different. I always embraced that, I made that my thing. I am incredibly proud to be part of a Ghanaian & Ashanti tribe and discovering that was a lovely thing to do. I am who I am, I would not know why or what to change. Despite having tremendous traumas in life, it has made me the person I am. It has brought me into contact with the people that I have in my life. If I changed it, I would not have those people in my life. I don’t know how or why I would change anything, it would mean I would not have those I love in my life. So in a nutshell, I would have the same all over again.
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