The 'Walking Dead' actress says playing Okoye in the Marvel blockbuster film has inspired her to make more projects about her roots.

• May 24, 2018

AceShowbiz - Actress Danai Gurira is determined to bring more African stories to the screen after portraying a warrior in Marvel blockbuster Black Panther.

The 40 year old played tough Okoye in the film and admits the character and the project itself has inspired her to make more projects about her roots.

"I definitely want to get more African stories on the screen - big and small; it's very important to me," she tells Ebony.com. "That is definitely something that is on my heart to see through. I have to see it through. That's a big thing right in front of me that I feel very called to complete and to get into the full process of, which I am now in."

Black Panther has broken box office records around the world and Danai is thrilled by the response to the blockbuster.

"I think one of the most important things about Panther, one of the most beautiful things about what I witnessed and the response that I received, was that there was a lot of beauty in the way it resonated across the world," she tells the outlet.

"But I think one of the things that's been really important to me is that there's been a reclamation - like a reclaiming that people are doing (things); of who they are and what they're doing and what their roots are. It's a celebration and an understanding that our roots deserve respect."

"Hopefully, that compels and inspires the great artistic minds that we have in the African diaspora - that it inspires them to know that there are stories they must tell. When we can do that, we are going to have so much more of a beautiful landscape of our own representation. That, to me, is exciting."

"I think of the little girl in Liberia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe or the Congo who will never have the opportunity I'm standing in," the actress adds. "She looks just like me, but she'll never stand in these shoes. It's not right. The least I can do is do my best for her. So that motivates me."