‘Get Out’ Star Daniel Kaluuya Says He Almost Quit Acting over ‘Racism’

Actor Daniel Kaluuya, who has appeared in hit movies Black Panther and Get Out and is set to star in director Jordon Peele’s horror flick Nope, says he almost quit acting because of “racism.”

Kaluuya, who’s latest film is Peele’s next horror flick Nope, told Essence that just before being cast in Peele’s hit Get Out, he was disillusioned by acting for a while and nearly quit the business.

“I was really disillusioned with acting. I had stopped acting for like a year and a half. I checked out, because I was just like, this isn’t working,” Kaluuya claimed. “I wasn’t getting roles, because racism and all this kind of stuff — so you reaching out was like, Okay, I’m not crazy. It’s proper. It’s going to be all right.”

“I want to go into places that I don’t know I can. I want three-dimensional characters. I want to tell the story, no matter how big or how small.”

Even as one of his biggest career bumps in the U.S. was his part in the hit 2018 Marvel superhero film Black Panther, Kaluuya won’t be reprising his role as W’Kabi, best friend and confidant to the film’s star, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman). Kaluuya begged off performing in the sequel because of scheduling conflicts while filming Nope.

Kaluuya didn’t exactly say during what year he didn’t take a role because of “racism,” however his IMDb page does not show much of a break between his role in the hit UK TV series Black Mirror in 2011 and his role in Get Out in 2015. In fact, he had a steady acting career starting in 2006 and appeared in a slew of British TV shows and movies, including recurring TV roles in no less than six series before his joined the cast of Get Out.

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