My friend Adoley Odunton Proser, who has died aged 65 of cancer, travelled with her family from her native Ghana to London in 1958. At only six years old, she made headlines the following year, photographed with her father, Joseph Odunton, who was the first black African to hold an appointment at Buckingham Palace, as assistant press secretary for the Queen’s 1961 visit to Ghana.

He and his wife, Mercy, decided that their daughter should be educated in Britain, and from her primary school Adoley, known as Muriel in Britain, won a scholarship to St Paul’s girls’ school, in west London, where she and I met. Strikingly beautiful, endlessly stylish and fiercely intelligent, Adoley shone at school and went on to study English at Oxford.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Adoley Odunton, right, aged six, who was known as Muriel in Britain, with her parents and brothers in 1959. Her father, Joseph Odunton, had been appointed by the Queen to handle press arrangements for a royal visit to Ghana. Photograph: Alamy

There, she soon proved herself as a gifted actor, acclaimed for her portrayal of Olivia in a production of Twelfth Night directed by Patrick Garland. After graduation she found work as a professional actor. Three years later, she won a leading role in Mixed Blessings (1978-80), a supposedly groundbreaking sitcom on ITV about an interracial marriage. Carmen Munroe, the pioneering black actor who played her mother, became a guide and friend.

While Adoley’s early success was impressive at a time when opportunities for black actors were scarce, she became frustrated by the series’ stereotypical approach to race relations. In 1980 she decided to leave London for Los Angeles and reverted to her African name.

There she built a distinguished career as a TV production executive and also directed a film. Then her faith, and her health, took her along another path. She became a spiritual practitioner at the Agape International Spiritual Center and a life coach, and she began to explore the world of wellbeing through alternative therapies.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Adoley Odunton Proser - credited as Muriel Odunton –and Christopher Blake in a 1980 episode of the TV series Mixed Blessings. Photograph: ITV/Rex/Shutterstock

In 1997, Adoley met and married the author Jim Proser (he was her second husband, her first marriage having ended in divorce). They moved from Los Angeles to Sarasota, Florida, in 2014, where she built a successful business as host of The Wellness Revolution, an internet interview programme.

Adoley was proud of her Ghanaian heritage and loved its culture. She was a very private person but wonderful to know, fizzing with energy, funny and loyal. A scholarship fund has been set up in her name to help the neediest children in Ghana receive an education.

Jim survives her, as do two brothers, Allotey and Olu, and a sister, Elizabeth.