Asana Alhassan

Asana Alhassan achieved widespread recognition for her powerful, award-winning breakout role in Ghanaian cinema. Discovered by casting director Mawuko Kuadzi, she made a historic impact with her very first feature film. Alhassan played the lead role of Amina, a 14-year-old girl from Northern Ghana who is sent away to Accra to escape an arranged marriage, only to face the harsh realities of surviving in the city's slums. The film, spoken primarily in Dagbanli and Akan, made history as Ghana's first-ever official submission to the Academy Awards (Oscars) for Best International Feature Film. For her performance in Azali, she won the prestigious Best Female Lead award at the 2018 Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in Nigeria. She beat out several seasoned actresses across the continent for the honour. She went on to star as Samira in the dramatic short film Agadez (2020). Following its festival run, her work gained global distribution when Azali premiered worldwide on Netflix.