Non-Somali will portray Supermodel Iman in HBO's LA Lakers Drama series

[Giftxo]

I could see the confusion between light and brownskin with Maya but Alisha is definitely brownskin
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Alisha is a light skin woman, she isn’t a brown skin woman, this is a brown skin woman:

alisha boe:

 

[Angelina]

I could see the confusion between light and brownskin with Maya but Alisha is definitely brownskin
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She's the same color as Halle berry and most people call Halle light skin.

The problem is that in this day and age medium and dark skin people are using snap filters that make themselves look pale. People are confused with what is light brown, medium ect.

Alisha would be seen as light in the Somali community.

 

[Sueeeeeee]

I wish a Somali girl was playing her. I know many Somali girls who apply for roles and always get rejected. Seems like they always pick non Somalis to play us

 

[Sophisticate]

I would prefer a Somali model type to play her not a Fulani who I can easily tell is not Somali. Its too hard for madows (even African ones) to mimic a Somali accent when speaking English. And they can't translate that strong sense of Somali entitlement onstage. Sorry but not sorry.

 

[𐒁𐒚𐒒𐒂𐒘𐒂𐒗 𐒎𐒚𐒗𐒗𐒒]

I would prefer a Somali model type to play her not a Fulani who I can easily tell is not Somali. Its too hard for madows (even African ones) to mimic a Somali accent when speaking English. And they can't translate that strong sense of Somali entitlement onstage. Sorry but not sorry.

Not only was Iman a proud Somali, she comes from an educated, upper-middle class family and when she was approached to model she was a student in Kenya. She was not destitute or desperate and that confident energy has always been apparent.

Unlike some models who act like they are were saved by a model agency. How can a non-Somali model show this energy and mannerisms.

 

[Sophisticate]

Not only was Iman a proud Somali, she comes from an educated, upper-middle-class family, and when she was approached to model, she was a student in Kenya. She was not destitute or desperate, and that confident energy has always been apparent.

Unlike some models who act like they are were saved by a model agency. How can a non-Somali model show this energy and mannerisms?

I'm aware of her privileged background.

I don't know who did the casting, but no doubt they don't care for cultural integrity and authenticity at all. These foreigners only seemed to get it right in that Captain Philips movie. All other media representations have been way off the mark except Desert Rose, where they got Liya Kebede to play Waris Dirie. Still, Liya was hand chosen and is at least ancestrally North-East African. I did not watch the movie, though, as it was an orientalist cinderella story of a nomad girl running away to escape an arranged and loveless marriage to a much older man. Rather she falls into the arms of her prince charming and saving grace, aka a modeling career in the west. Iman is the one that set a precedent for all the other models, especially those of colour that came after and taught them they have rights and bargaining power. I don't think anyone but a tall chocolate-skinned Somali girl with striking features and the same grit and confident air should play her. Not a bootleg version of a Somali that lacks the ethnocultural lens or heritage beyond a Muslim-sounding name or possible background. But many of these foreigners that do casting are less than smart or don't care, perhaps both.