entertainment news

‘Nothing worked for me until I was clean and sober’: Ashley Walters on acting, directing – and turning his life around

He reflects on the road from prison and addiction to soaring success Ashley Walters seems to have lived his life on fast-forward. Back in the early 2000s, he fit a certain stereotype of Black British youth as Asher D, the rapper from deprived and supposedly crime-ridden Peckham, who rolled with the street-tough So Solid Crew, got into beefs with east London rivals such as Dizzee Rascal, was demonised by the tabloids and called a “boasting macho idiot rapper” by the then culture minister Kim Howells.

We do not support our own, but we watch horrible Hollywood movies – Yvonne Okoro

Ghanaian actor and film producer Yvonne Okoro has bemoaned the lack of support for local films. Her acting credits include Beyonce: The President’s Daughter, The Return of Beyonce, Single Six, Contract, Potomanto, Rebecca, Ghana Must Go, Like Cotton Twines and Fix Us.

‘Consummate actor has left the stage’ – Kanayo, others mourn Francis Duru

Nollywood actors have mourned the death of their colleague, Francis Duru, describing him as a talented performer whose contributions to the film industry will be remembered. Actor Kanayo O. Kanayo, in a tribute on his Instagram page, described Duru as a complete actor and one of Nigeria’s most versatile and prolific performers.

Taika Waititi's latest film sucks the emotion out of a beloved story

Plus, claymation studio Laika is back for the first time in over five years and Sense and Sensibility is updated for a new generation.

JoyNews’ Nana Boakye Yiadom wins Community Impact Journalism Award; two others at Ashanti GJA Awards

JoyNews journalist Nana Boakye Dankwah Yiadom has won the Best in Community Impact Journalism award at the 2025 Ashanti Regional Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards, alongside two other recognitions for his work in environmental and health journalism. He secured third place in the Health Journalism category with his feature, A Sick Hospital, which examined challenges confronting healthcare delivery at the Tafo government hospital in Kumasi.

My father saw acting as prostitution — Uzoamaka Power

By Ayo Onikoyi Actress Uzoamaka Power, known for her role in The Call of My Life, has revealed that her father’s perception of acting initially made her afraid to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Speaking during an interview on the Tea With Tay podcast, Power recalled how her father frequently criticised actresses whenever they appeared on television, questioning their dressing and commitment to education.

Is Wizkid failing his fans in 2026?

By Ayo Onikoyi It appears music powerhouse Ayodeji Balogun is keeping his fans hanging too long on a thread after he made a promise of his seventh solo studio album “coming soon” in June 2026. The Wizkid FC, his fanatical fans, wouldn’t throw any tantrum about this, but the question has to be asked as to what is keeping the “Holla at Ya Boy” star from unleashing his “Sexy” (title of his seventh studio album) on the music scene.

Naseeruddin Shah wants to weaken democracy in country: BJP

The actor had urged all right-minded citizens to support the demands of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute students

Ali G: Who Iz I? stooge says he was in on joke but didn’t tell Sacha Baron Cohen: ‘He’s not going to punk me. I’ll trick him’

Joshua Loudermilk, one of two men apparently discredited by the new Ali G movie Ali G: Who Iz I?, has said that he was in on the joke, but that the film-makers didn’t realise this. Loudermilk, a 54-year-old aspiring actor from North Carolina, has told the Guardian he recognised star Sacha Baron Cohen early in the shoot but continued pretending to be a hard-right Maga sympathiser prepared to defend the US border at all costs.

Matthew McConaughey has read all his bad reviews – and I applaud him

The Hollywood actor revealed he once read two-decades’ worth of pans in one fell swoop, during two days in the desert. Which is why a recent admission from Matthew McConaughey is unusual.

Award-winning theoretical physicist Ashoke Sen has focused on string theory

Ashoke Sen becomes first Indian to win 2026 Oskar Klein Medal, awarded by Stockholm University and Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Natasha Bedingfield looks back: ‘I had hits in the US that weren’t released in England. It was like being banished’

Natasha Bedingfield looks back: ‘I had hits in the US that weren’t released in England. The singer-songwriter on her unconventional education, her brother Daniel, and her quest to write a classic like Purple Rain Born in London in 1981, Natasha Bedingfield is a singer and songwriter.

Readers reply: will there ever again be a band as big as the Beatles or the Stones?

The 2020s have seen many individual pop artists make it big: Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Sabrina Carpenter, Harry Styles. Is the era of the all-conquering group that puts its stamp on popular culture (Abba, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles) over, never to return?

ASTraM and adaptive traffic signals win award for BTP

‘I’d rather live through something publicly than escape it privately’: Jack Antonoff on survivor’s guilt, songwriting and his shock divorce

He weighs in on Ed Sheeran, his love of working on ‘high-stakes’ albums and and why he’ll never stop singing about his marriage breakup on stage Sitting in the restaurant of a Denver hotel, in the middle of a US tour with his band Bleachers, Jack Antonoff shrugs. Antonoff had previously been guitarist in Fun, a pop-rock band who went supernova with their 2011 single We Are Young.

India advises its nationals in Saudi Arabia against filming missile interceptions

The Indian mission also shared an update about the suspension of flights from Air India and Air India Express to and from Riyadh and Dammam

‘I’m not someone who has sex to music. I like uncomfortable silence’: Katherine Ryan’s honest playlist

Katherine Ryan’s honest playlist. The first single I bought I bought three records at the same time – Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette, a Sheryl Crow single and Waterfalls by TLC – from Sam the Record Man in Sarnia, Ontario, with money I’d saved up from doing chores around the house.

French Montana, Jorja Smith to perform at Ballon d’Or 2026

Ballon d’Or organisers revealed on Saturday that star US rapper French Montana and English singer Jorja Smith would perform at this year’s ceremony, part of efforts to draw more viewers to the awards event. In 2025, the top male player prize was awarded to France’s Ousmane Dembele and the women’s to Spain’s Aitana Bonmati.

Luv FM journalists sweep top honours at GJA Ashanti Regional Media Excellence Awards

Journalists from Luv FM, a subsidiary of the Multimedia Group Limited, have won multiple awards at the 2025 Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Ashanti Regional Media Excellence Awards. Emmanuel Bright Quaicoe Clinton Yeboah secured first place in both Best Health Journalism and Best Business and Economy Journalism.

Multimedia’s Emmanuel Bright Quaicoe wins 2025 GJA Ashanti Regional Journalist of the Year award

Luv FM journalist, Emmanuel Bright Quaicoe, has been crowned the 2025 Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Ashanti Regional Journalist of the Year, the highest individual honour at the regional media excellence awards. His award was announced at the GJA Ashanti Media Excellence Awards, which recognises outstanding journalistic work across the region.

Midwest muso Kevin Morby is no longer America's best kept secret

After a life spent moving around, the respected singer-songwriter's new album is the sound of surviving and staying put.

Kesington Adebutu at 91, by Dele Sobowale

I must have read over 4,000 books, wholly or partly, as well as thousands of magazine or newspaper reports and articles during the almost 34 years it took me to finally compile and publish the VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, in 2007 in Nigeria. Unknown to Chief, Nigeria’s computer guru, Chris Nwajei, had once made a remark when he was introducing us to computers at VANGUARD in the 1990s: “If you want to hide anything from an African, put it in a book”.

Regional students band together for unique performance

Students from regional South Australia have been joined by the Adelaide Youth Orchestra for a one-day concert. For many, this has been their first in-person music lessons in years.

Anthony LaPaglia: ‘There is not a role I didn’t get that I ever gave more than four hours of grievance to – even Tony Soprano’

The actor on surviving 2000s network television in Without a Trace, the role that made him take Brad Pitt seriously, and leaving the US to ‘ride out Trump’ Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email I didn’t know before reading your new memoir that you were almost Tony Soprano. Because there’s no point.