The daughter of Kofi Abrefa Busia, the ex-prime minister of the Republic of Ghana, Akosua is a princess of the royal family of Wenchi, a subgroup of the Ashanti. She was educated at the University of Oxford, England.

Her film roles include a notable performance as Nettie in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple (1985), and as Patience in Antoine Fuqua’s Tears of the Sun (2003). In 1994 she married the American film-maker John Singleton, with whom she has a daughter Hader. They divorced in 1997.

Akosua has written The Seasons of Beento Blackbird: A Novel (Washington Square Press, 1997). In addition, she was one of three writers who co-wrote the screenplay adaptation of Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, for the 1998 film directed by Jonathan Demme. Her sister is the poet and academic Abena Busia.