How Nollywood Actress Ashionye Raccah Got to Star in the Second Season of ‘Wednesday’ Alongside Jenna Ortega

Now, more than two decades after watching her first Addams Family film, Raccah herself got a chance to star in a remake of the well-known classic. But not just any remake. Raccah stars in the second season of Wednesday, the smash hit Netflix series produced by Tim Burton.

“I've always been a fan of the [Addams family], and when I heard [about] Wednesday season 1, I was intrigued. I watched the show, it was amazing,” Raccah tells OkayAfrica.

In the third episode of the second season, Raccah plays a minister officiating the funeral of former Sheriff Donovan Galpin. Dressed in pitch black priestly robe with her hair pulled away from her face, Raccah’s character officiated the sombre and sparsely attended funeral with the stoic-faced mood that permeates most of the sensibilities of the series. Raccah acts in this scene alongside the great British Zimbabwean actress Thandiwe Newton and South African star Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo.

“It was pleasant to work with Jenna, Thandiwe, and Unati. I got to share moments between takes with Thandiwe and Unati, having conversations with them,” Raccah says.

That day on set involved costume, makeup, pre-shoot rehearsals, and a meeting with the director, Paco Cabezas, after which she was whisked back to her trailer.

“About an hour or so later, we were put back in the vehicle and driven back to the sets. They were ready to shoot. It was quite an experience, as I believe they only shot two scenes in 12 hours of filming that entire day. It was a short, sharp, interesting scene, but it took a couple of hours. And to be honest, that experience being on set for that day changed my perspective,” Raccah explains.

Raccah says the on-set experience was unlike anything else she has had as an actor. This is particularly regarding the level of care and the extent to which a big budget can make the lives of actors like her, no matter how small their role on a project might be, absolutely worth it.

“For that one scene, I had about eight different costumes to try out in two different colors, you know, four in black, four in grey.” She adds that it felt different from working on a Nollywood set where resources are often scarce and filmmakers use their sense of invention and grit to make blockbusters on thin budgets.

“We're run by independent filmmakers. You know, every production is from an independent filmmaker's pocket. In Hollywood, it's a lot different. You have different people coming together or different companies coming together, putting funds together to produce it.”

The experience, according to Raccah, was a reminder of the grit and dedication it takes to execute a successful project of that calibre.

Landing the role

The journey to landing this role was riddled with false starts. After being asked by her agent to send in tapes auditioning for a role, Raccah was told that although the casting directors loved her audition, they went with someone else. The same thing happened for another role she auditioned for. It wasn’t until the third try that she got a positive response.

For that third try, Raccah says that her young daughter, who is a fan of Ortega and the show, helped her prepare.

“We go into the room, and I set up everything. She tells me what to do as I run the lines. And she's like, ‘No, no, no, no. I'm directing you. You're doing it this way. You're doing it that way. Move your hands like that. Look at the side.’ I was like, Why is my eight-year-old daughter directing my self-tape? But I took her directions.” When Raccah got the call that she booked the role, she said she was over the moon.

Making a move

Entering Hollywood as an actor who had mostly worked in the Nigerian film industry, an ecosystem funded not by high-powered film studios or corporations but by independent filmmakers and modest private companies, was at once exciting and eye-opening for Raccah.

“I had to learn and relearn things that I had learned in Nollywood,” Raccah says. “I had to go to drama school. There are certain things that I had to learn to be able to find my place over here,” Raccah explains.

Being in a constant learning mode has also helped Raccah reshape her sensibility and approach to work. When she moved to Europe, she began taking drama classes and has invested in working with an accent coach to help make her a more malleable actor.

“I'm presently working with one to help me achieve some other accents that I presently don't have. And that's me trying to grow myself as an actor on an international stage. Because here's the thing, it doesn't matter how talented you are as a performer, if a role calls for a certain accent and you can't achieve that accent, you're probably not going to get it.”

The ability to morph, as Raccah sees it, is an incredibly helpful tool for actors from the continent looking to expand their craft on the international stage.

“You should be able to morph into a character once you get it or when you're auditioning for it,” Raccah says.

On the whole, Raccah is feeling optimistic about expanding her resume beyond the continent.

“This project means a whole lot; it means a step towards achieving my dream as an actor on a global stage. This is not just every Nollywood actor's dream, but every African actor's dream to be on a global stage and to have such an opportunity to, like we say in Nigeria, sell our market. I am a proud representative of not just Nigeria or Nollywood or not just Nollywood and Nigeria, but Africa.”