By Juliet Ebirim

How did you start acting?

I have cousins who act – Uche and Chinelo Ndigwe. They were the ones who got me into the field. Uche’s friend at the time, who’s a big producer now, was working on a movie with a whole lot of cast and she needed kids. One day, she came to the house and I was just running my mouth. She had to ask me how old I was and I said six. When I was about eight, she was ready to shoot her movie.

She called my cousin and said she wanted me to be in her movie. My sisters taught me my lines and that was the first time I acted. I played the younger version of Genevieve Nnaji. That was in the year 2000 and it was the movie ‘The Cast Away’. It affected my school, so my dad said I wasn’t going to act again because I went all the way from the first to ninth position in class.

My dad was so pissed. Then again, when I was in SS1, my cousin came back from London and she wanted to produce a movie and she needed young people, so she put me in it. That was where I met Desmond Elliot and I tried to sell him a script. It was the first time I ever wrote a script, though it wasn’t a full script, it was more like a scene break-down.

He liked the story and so I gave it to him. The next year, my cousin was ready to shoot another film in London and she wanted me to play a lead role in it. But I couldn’t get the visa then due to some glitches. I was unhappy, but she called and told me Emem Isong was doing an audition. After auditioning for her, she gave me a role in her series ‘Catwalq’ and from there, the rest is history.

That was my first audition and it was pretty amazing. She gave me two totally different characters and asked me to choose one. I didn’t know which one to take and so I asked her if I could play the two characters. I guess I impressed her because I was switching from being happy to really sad. She was so impressed and called the attention of some people working with her to come and watch me.

After that, I went for other auditions, I got picked for Tinsel, Dear Mother and many others. I never got picked for movies but I was picked for series. From there, I wrote a script ‘Damage’ for Uche Jombo and I also played a role in the movie. That was pretty much how I started.

How has it been for you so far?

I’ve been really blessed, because so many people who tried to come into the industry at my age got misled. I met the good, the bad and the ugly. A few people tried to sexually harass me and deceive me that I had to be  certain way before I can act. But I was just blessed to be smarter than my age. I came into the industry after my SS3. At that time, I had written about fifteen scripts.

But I was scared because people told me that they’d steal my scripts and not give me credit and all. I held them so closely to myself and I only gave out ‘Damage’. Damage didn’t get me as much credit or acknowledgment as I expected in the script writing area and so I hid the rest. Within one year of waiting for admission, I had done eleven films and I had won an award as the Best Young Actor, BON Awards 2011.

Nicole Ndigwe

Given your experience, what’s your impression of Nollywood?

Nollywood is a very competitive industry. Everybody wants to be the best. Everybody is running their own race, so you have to be on top of your game to be  an achiever. Nollywood is an industry where only the smart, the lucky and the best can survive. You need to be both book-smart and street-smart. You’ll meet different type of people, the horrible ones and the ones who just want the best for you.

Having done movies and TV series, how would you assess both?

I really like movies. I don’t like things that stretch. I think I have a bit of impatience in me, so I like to do something and get it over with. That’s why I take my writing so special, because it takes time and patience. For TV series, having to be on a set in the same place for three months, it takes discipline. I’m claustrophobic. I can’t bath in a small bathroom. The truth is movies are easier for me. You get into a particular character and in two weeks you’re out of it. You do not have to be someone-else for eight or fifteen weeks.

What’s that thing that gives you an edge over others?

I don’t want to gloat, but I think it’s my mind. My mind is my favorite part of my body. I’m not someone who’s superficial. I used to be a tomboy, though I’ve become more of a lady now. It’s a punishment for me to wake up in the morning and apply body lotion. I prefer to just clean my body and get into my outfit. So, when I’m asked what distinguishes me or gives me an edge over others – It’s my mind.

How has that helped or advanced your career?

It has helped in the way I view things and people. People find it easy to connect with me. I don’t see anyone as better or lesser than me. I don’t even notice how people look at me. There’s nobody I can see now and not be able to talk to. My biggest regret in life… I have a regret and that’s one thing I hate because I don’t want to regret anything in life. I regret one thing in life – being in a room for forty minutes with Dangote and I had nothing to say to him. I had gone to do my passport and he came into the office (of the head) where I was and sat to wait for his passport. If I had met him today, I would give him four business proposals. (Laughs)

What influences the kind of roles you choose to do?

I think it’s first of all, my dad. My dad is too involved in my career. My mother is more like ‘Are you sure this is really what you want to do?’ He roots for me. Every single thing I do, my dad wants to watch, not because he wants to check if it’s good or bad, but because he wants to be a part of it. My dad comments on every of my Facebook posts. So sometimes, before taking up a role, I’m like ‘What would daddy say?’.

So, you’re saying there are certain roles you wouldn’t do?

Yes there are some, unless it’s for a cause. Right now, I’m about to do a film with Emem Isong. It’s something on sexual reproductive health rights. It has to do with genital mutilation and all that, so I don’t know what would be expected of me, but it’s for two organisations who are partnering to push this information. Those are the kind of films I would consider, like a film on breast cancer where I know it’s important for that kind of thing. But not just kiss and get up, those things that writers just write because they can write.

Are you saying you’ve never kissed on set?

Not until this year. I had to do it with Bimbo Manuel. Oooh, it was the scariest thing in my life. He saw that I was struggling, he was wise to have covered it and then we played the rest as if we were… The first one I rejected, I was only twenty then. There’s an age I would get to – say 27, 28 and you require certain things of me. I’m an adult and of age, then I would say maybe I want to do this. But at a time when you answer to mummy and daddy, even though you might not be under their roof and immediate care, but the respect you have for them at that time counts.

Any awkward moment so far as an actor?

Yes, I remember! The day I cried on the set of ‘Tinsel’. I had a crush on Gbenro Ajibade. Then I was really young, about eighteen or so. I was picked, though I missed the major audition. They said they were looking for someone to play ‘Shalewa’, she’s like ‘Jenifa’. And they weren’t sure If I would be able to play it because I speak well. I knew I could do it if I put my heart to it, but I didn’t want something that would stereotype me.

Eventually, I said I can’t play it. The director asked about my past works and got my details. Then, eleven days later, I was called to come and pick up the script. When I got there, I saw 23 other people, I was the 24th person for the same role. I was very scared because the other girls looked more exposed than I was. But I prayed, I actually used to pray a lot then.

At the end, we were three that were chosen and I got the main role and the others were chosen as extras. So the next day when I came on set, it felt so unreal because I’ve always watched Tinsel on TV and wished to be like the stars. It was unbelievable. So I was acting with Gbenro Ajibade, Linda Ejiofor, Ireti Doyle… When they said ‘action’, I was shaking to my bones.

They tried to calm me and then I started crying too, because I was so nervous. Gbenro came to me, held me and said ‘You can do it. You’ve already done the hard part, this is the easy part.’That really touched me and I started shivering and tears were flowing. Aunty Ireti Doyle took me outside and encouraged me. She spoke to me like a mother, cleaned my eyes and hugged me and she said ‘Go in there and kill it’. I eventually went in and I killed it.

After the shoot, Gbenro was like ‘Why?’ and I said ‘It was because of you. I always see you on TV and I couldn’t believe I was acting next to you’. He was like ‘Really?’ and we laughed. Eventually, I left. I didn’t even take a picture that day. I was just dazed that I did Tinsel. That was my most embarrassing moment. (Laughs). I cried because of Gbenro. I saw him recently at a show I organised with some friends in UNILAG and we laughed over it.