From Anime to Comic Con, Chioma Umeala Dreams of Black Representation and Diverse Stories

Umeala believes it’s important to tell diverse stories and to see diverse faces on screen. The negative reaction she received didn’t hurt as much as it disappointed her. “Anime keeps growing,” she says. “One of the main purposes of art is to be appreciated. If art is good, it’ll draw fans. Saying Black girls cannot be legitimate fans of anime because they’re Black, saying that a Black person cannot play an anime character, is ironic and ridiculous.”

Moving forward, dreaming bigger

Umeala, who also played Tara in The Woman King, got her start in the South African TV series Isono, after studying at AFDA and the Indigo View Academy for Advanced Actors. She says she won’t let the people who criticize Black interest in anime hold her back from continuing to pursue the genre. Through platforms like Comic Con Africa, she wants to empower young Black girls to pursue whatever their passion may be. “Everyone has dreams, and representation matters to our dreams,” she says. “It’s important, and so much more affirming, to see people who look like you doing the things that you want to do. We have a long way to go, but we’ve also come a long way.”

And, as she notes, better representation on the shows we watch has a ripple effect. She relays a story about a young white boy who recently reached out to her about how inspired he was by the character she played. Twenty years ago, white characters played the main roles and filled our screens, now, “The fact that I can be an inspiration to a young white boy just shows me how far we’ve come,” Umeala says. “We’re making progress even if it’s slow, and I’m grateful to be an inspiration to him and to others.”

Representing two cultures

Umeala was born in Johannesburg to a Nigerian father and a South African mother, and often finds that juggling both cultural identities can be a challenge. “I feel lucky to have such a rich cultural identity and history,” she says, “but socially, it’s tough because we’re from countries that aren’t always friendly. The xenophobia against Nigerians hasn’t been pleasant to see.” Umeala is personally affected, people aren’t always pleasant to her because she has a Nigerian father.

“Regardless of that, and especially in my work, it’s important for me to be out there. Nigeria and South Africa are two different countries, but we can get along if we try. If we combine one another’s dreams, there’s no limit to what we can do.”

While a proud Xhosa (South African) and Igbo (Nigerian) woman, Umeala speaks neither of her native languages, and this is a part of what led her to auditioning for roles outside her country. “My parents didn’t teach me Igbo or Xhosa. So doing local projects — and because I had two different nationalities — influenced the kind of roles I got access to.” By necessity and by ambition, Umeala had to turn her eyes toward the international market. “I’ve also learned that language isn’t what holds you back. In fact, your identity and multiculturalism can be what propels you.”

The significance and career-defining result of this decision is what fuels Umeala’s advocacy for, and promotion of homegrown talents. “We can do this by opportunities, creating funding, and creating access,” she adds.

Umeala notes that people are looking to these countries as the next cultural indicators. “It’d be great for us to support these talents before the West acknowledges them. I think that’s the most important thing because if we have support from home, we’d have so much more to offer, so much more to give. People like Lupita Nyong’o, Trevor Noah, Tems, Wizkid, Burna Boy are proof that we can break into the global market. They keep showing us how big our worlds can get, keep showing us that we can make it internationally even if we’re not from there.”

Even though the Black experience is multifaceted, we are united in our collective humanity, and this is evident in one of Umeala’s most memorable experiences from her acting career. “One day, while on the set of The Woman King, we were shooting a scene at the king’s palace. It started to rain and we were shooting through the rain. There were many of us, over two hundred, extras, crew, the whole lot, and we just started singing, ‘Bring the sun back,’” she says.

“We were in a circle, Viola Davis, John Boyega, all of us, singing, dancing and getting wet in the rain. There are so many different versions of Black people. Black people from America, from the U.K., from the continent, and all of us had come together, united in the human experience through music and dance.”

It was an incredibly special moment for Umeala, who plays the guitar and is skilled as a mezzo-soprano and dancer. A great lover of musicals, one of her dreams is to be a part of one. “Like La La Land, a role like that would definitely be a huge labor of love to me. It’d be a dream.”