Award-winning actress Naomi Ackie has revealed her parents told her she’d have to work ‘twice as hard and get half as much’ at the start of her career due to being a woman of colour in the industry.
The 34-year-old Blink Twice star has been announced as the recipient of this year’s Performer Of The Year at the 2025 ELLE Style Awards, which take place on September 9.
And gracing the cover of ELLE UK‘s October issue, Naomi spoke to her friend and fellow actor, Zoë Kravitz, about the power of following her instincts, the challenges faced by women of colour in the industry, and finding inner peace.
She admitted that when she first pursued an acting career, her parents’ fear was her reality – as she saw friends who were more ‘reckless’ and did stuff she ‘couldn’t afford to do’.
Naomi explained: ‘I saw some of my friends who aren’t Black or a person of colour make mistakes or be a bit reckless in a way that I cannot afford to do. I have one shot at this.
‘And you carry that on top of being conditioned as a woman to be as quiet as possible, but make sure everyone is safe and happy, be sexy but cute – literally that Barbie monologue.
Award-winning actress Naomi Ackie has revealed her parents told her she’d have to work ‘twice as hard and get half as much’ as a woman of colour in the industry
The 34-year-old Blink Twice star has been announced as the recipient of this year’s Performer Of The Year at the 2025 ELLE Style Awards, which take place on September 9
‘Being a woman of colour on top of that complicates things, because everything is coloured by people’s biases.’
She added: ‘Our Blackness is something that’s going to be either fetishised or problematic. There is a slight fear every time a casting [announcement] goes up. Like, “Oh lordy, who’s got something to say now?”‘
Meanwhile, Zoë, 36, cast pal Naomi as main character Frida in the black comedy psychological thriller filë, which proved to be a huge success.
The two women chatted about their friendship in the interview, with Naomi saying: ‘I remember saying on set how rare it is for women to create the kind of friendships that male directors and actors have.
‘There are so many [eg Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro; Luca Guadagnino and Timothée Chalamet; Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L Jackson].
‘This was a job where I felt like I was a friend of the director. Before, it always felt like I was the child – like, “Oh my God, please love me! Am I doing a good job?!”‘
They also discussed having fun with fashion, with Zoë complimenting her pal.
‘Well, I saw this picture of you recently, girl, where I was like, “Damn! Sorry, who is she?!”‘ she laughed.
Gracing the cover of ELLE Magazine ‘s October issue, Naomi spoke to her friend and fellow actor, Zoë Kravitz, about the challenges faced by women of colour in the industry
Naomi admitted her parents told her she would ‘have to work twice as hard and get half as much’ – which she said was her reality
Zoë, 36, (pictured) cast pal Naomi as main character Frida in the black comedy psychological thriller filë, which proved to be a huge success
Naomi replied: ‘That was fun. I’ve always loved clothes on other people, but been shy about them on myself. But then, babe, the thirties!
‘The thirties hit and I was like, wear it f**king now. Wear things that make you laugh. Wear things that make you smile, that give you joy, and f**k the rest.’
In Blink Twice, Channing Tatum – Zoë’s ex-fianceé – stars as a tech billionaire named Slater King.
He meets a cocktail waitress named Frida at his fundraising gala and invites her to join him and his friends at his private island.
However, it’s there Frida discovers the dream vacation is not what it seems and she must uncover the mystery and find a way to escape.
Zoë graced the cover of W Magazine’s Fall Fashion Issue last year and shed light on what inspired her to start writing her psychological thriller.
‘In the summer of 2017, I had come to a place of frustration with society and culture power dynamics,’ the High Fidelity star revealed.
‘I went home one day after talking to a friend, and I wrote down the original title of the film: P***y Island.’
She continued: ‘Then—when was it? October, I think, when everything happened with Har— [Harvey Weinstein], actually, I don’t want to say his name. I don’t want to give him any power.’
The October issue of ELLE UK is on sale from 4 September.