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Susan Mutesi ‘still struggling to break through racist Australian entertainment industry’

Ugandan-Australian actress, model and author, Susan Mutesi might be considered top of her game today, but she still considers herself 'a reject' of the Australian entertainment world.
Susan Mutesi says she's still stuggling to break through the entertainment industry in Australia
Susan Mutesi says she's still stuggling to break through the entertainment industry in Australia

The 36 year old star of the “The Challenge'' TV series says to this day she is still facing rejection both in acting and modeling, thanks in part to her body size and the color of her skin.

Being a black girl in a very caucasian country it is quite hard; even right now it is quite hard to break into the entertainment or social aspects of the industry,” she told the BBC in a recent interview.

To get a good acting agent as a black woman you find most agents will take one black person to represent all.”

Mutesi recalls once being rejected by a modeling agency, because her body size was considered to represent ill-health. 

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I get so much rejection even up to now… I remember once I had gone for auditions as a black young girl and a lady told me, ‘you are too black; you’ve got a big bum and what people will see is cellulite, so that can't work for runways.’

Mutesi has lived in Australia since she was 11. She joined her mother, who had fled Uganda during the Idi Amin terror. 

Finishing her studies in South Wales, she broke into the film industry, and fashion and design. 

She’s been cast in the reality TV show The Challenge, Heart Break High and even blockbuster Hollywood films X-Men, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

She's also won a number of awards in fashion industry including the Fashion icon award at the African Australian Music and Movie award 2014.

But as she rose to fame, she also became a target of racist attacks from some of her peers, the Australian and British tabloids, where she’s often referred to as a “fake socialite.”

To cope with the racism hurdles, Mutesi has written a number of books, one titled “The Immigrant that found her unapologetic voice

That book came from a place where I was tired of apologizing that I'm too black, that I don’t fit in; and wishing that I was mixed,” she said. 

Mutesi, who describes herself on Instagram as an 'Actor and Best Award Winning Author' says she has stopped apologising and embraced her darkness, her colour and her curves.

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