Millions of Ghanaians, are doing incredibly well in their fields in the diaspora, most of which are not known to be of Ghanaian descent.
In the case of Kofi Siriboe, his Ghanaian name makes him out.
His first name Kofi is an Akan masculine given name among the Akan people (such as the Ashanti and Fante) in Ghana that means “born on a Friday” in Akan language.
The surname Siriboe according to records is most frequent in Ghana, where it is borne by 901 people or 1 in 29,990.
This emphasizes how important our names are to defining our identity, culture, and connections to the past.
Nana Kofi Siriboe born on the 2nd of March 1994 is an American actor whose works have spanned theatre, film, and television.
He was born in Los Angeles, California to Naa Koshie Mills and Kwame Siriboe.
His parents are Ghanaians. He is the middle child and has two brothers, actors Kwame Boateng and Kwesi Boakye.
Kofi Siriboe joined the fifth and final season of Insecure to play Crenshawn, a formerly incarcerated fashion designer who clashes with Issa Dee (Issa Rae) over issues of authenticity and reaching out to a broader (ie, white) audience.
Siriboe was best known for his role on OWN’s Queen Sugar, or as the man who had a steamy, hilarious encounter with Jada Pinkett Smith involving a grapefruit in the 2017 film Girls Trip.
Siriboe, who broke into acting alongside his brothers as a young child, says the role of Crenshawn resonated with him as someone who is constantly advocating for authentic Black stories in Hollywood, and as someone who has recently gotten into fashion design.
For years, Kofi had been toying with the idea of creating a space where he could process the things he and others experience in life and remember them.
He finally launched “We’re Not Kids Anymore”, an interactive media platform and timeline that recaps major cultural moments that date back to the early 2000s.
In trying to sort through his own mental health concerns, Kofi discovered that there was a huge gap in addressing mental health in the Black community and that notion inspired him to fill that gap by releasing a short film in 2018 called JUMP.
The film featured several candid conversations where young people were able to discuss mental well-being.
According to Kofi, his overall goal was to help people “walk away with a sense of peace and understanding, knowing it’s okay to discuss our feelings and seek assistance when it comes to mental health”.
The Hollywood siblings, Kwame Boateng, Kofi Siriboe, and Kwesi Boakye (the K Brothers) 2017 spent their Christmas outside of glitzy Tinseltown by visiting Ghana for the first time.
They used their Christmas homecoming to connect with their roots and celebrate the holidays with family, friends, and fellow Ghanaians.
While in Ghana, the brothers spent some days in Kumasi where they paid homage to the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and as well visited the Elmina Castle.
They also visited the Great Mission Orphanage in Teshie, Accra, where they spent time with the kids and made donations to the home.