US film stars Meagan Good and Jonathan Majors are set to become citizens of Guinea after DNA tests revealed ancestral links to the West African country.
The married couple recently travelled to Guinea, where they are due to be granted citizenship following the discovery of their family roots.
“We are just happy to be here,” said Good, best known for her role in Think Like a Man, adding that this was her first-ever visit to the country.
Majors, who has starred in Creed and Ant-Man, shared her excitement. “I am excited to meet the people and go around the town with my wife,” he said.
Their citizenship ceremony has been organised by Guinea’s ministry of culture and follows a growing trend across West Africa encouraging people of African descent to reconnect with their heritage and invest in the region.
The event will be a private cultural ceremony held later on Friday at a newly built tourist garden on the outskirts of the capital, Conakry.
Good, 44, and Majors, 36, began dating in May 2023 and married last year.
Their wedding came after a turbulent period in Majors’ life. In 2024, he was sentenced in the US to probation after being convicted of assaulting his former girlfriend, British choreographer Grace Jabbari. He was also ordered to complete a 52-week domestic violence intervention programme.
The couple arrived at Conakry’s Gbessia International Airport early on Friday morning, where they were greeted by government officials and musicians in a celebratory welcome.
During their stay, Good and Majors are expected to visit Boké, a coastal region known for historic slave trade sites. It remains unclear whether they plan to invest in or relocate to Guinea.
As part of the welcome ceremony, the actors were presented with kola nuts — a traditional symbol of hospitality, peace and friendship across West Africa.
In recent years, several high-profile celebrities have taken citizenship in African countries.
The movement gained momentum in 2019 when Ghana launched its “Year of Return” initiative, encouraging members of the African diaspora to reconnect with the continent. Music legend Stevie Wonder was among the most prominent figures to accept citizenship in 2024.
Other examples include US singer Ciara, who became a citizen of Benin last year, and Hollywood actor Samuel L Jackson, who received a Gabonese passport in 2020.
Guinea itself has a long history of welcoming figures from the African diaspora.
In the 1960s, South African singer Miriam Makeba and her husband, US civil rights activist and Black Panther leader Stokely Carmichael, moved to Guinea. Makeba had been rendered stateless for opposing apartheid, and after marrying Carmichael — who popularised the phrase “Black Power” — her US visa was revoked.
She was treated as an honorary Guinean citizen and cultural ambassador. Carmichael, who later took the name Kwame Ture, remained in Guinea even after their divorce and died there in 1998.
Guinea has experienced political instability in recent years. Following a military coup in 2021, the ruling junta restricted media freedoms and cracked down on protests under the leadership of Gen Mamady Doumbouya.
The country has recently returned to civilian rule after elections held last month, which Doumbouya won with 87% of the vote.
Unlike some neighbouring nations that have faced coups, Guinea has maintained ties with Western governments, particularly France.
Despite being rich in natural resources such as bauxite, iron ore, diamonds, gold and uranium, Guinea remains one of the poorest countries in West Africa.
