By Damilola Sholola

IK Ogbonna is regarded as one of the hottest sex symbols in the Nigerian entertainment industry for his suave looks and carriage. He carries an air of a knight in shining armour. He started out as a model but has since become an actor of note in Nollywood.

He has been fingered in many romantic affairs, involving girls from within and outside entertainment circle. His Colombian fiancée, Sonia Lareina who is pregnant with his first child flew all the way from Colombia to settle down with him after becoming friends on Instagram. In this exclusive interview, he talks about his fast growing career, life and more.

What movie are you working on now?

It’s a movie called The Potters Clay starring myself, Jibola Dabo, Yvonne Jegede and a whole lot of other actors

What is it like working with the cast?

It’s very nice, they are all welcoming. They are hardworking people and we are all determined to bring out the best in the production

What has been your biggest movie so far?

I can’t really say I have a movie that I would call my biggest because I’ve done over 30 movies in my career and a lot of people would find different movies as their best. I’m just an actor and my job is to deliver and my fans are the consumers; they are the ones that can say I think IK’s best movie is this or that but I’ve done many movies with renowned producers and directors and upcoming producers too. I’m actually going to be starring in a movie with Theresa Dickson very soon; she’s a new producer and it’s actually her second movie

Have you won any awards?

Yeah, I’ve won a few awards; there’s the Cynosure Awards, there’s Avant-garde, there’s Milo Awards I won some years ago and a few other ones. I was nominated for the NEA’s last year and I was also nominated for the AMVCA (Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards) in the Best Actor in a Drama Category. I did not win but it is a grace on its own being nominated

What has been the highpoint of your career?

Highest point of my career so far is coming to terms with the fact that this is what I have to do right now and I have to really face it and bring the best out of it. I can’t really finger point a particular incident but if I would pick anything so far it’s getting the recognition of AMVCA. They are the biggest in Africa and for them to recognize you and put you in a category for Best Actor in Africa; I think it’s a high point

Are you planning to get married soon?

We are engaged and hopefully we should do that sometime very soon but we’ve not fixed a date yet

How far along is she?

She’s in her 7th month now so from my calculations, she has about 2 more months to go.

What attracted you to her?

She’s an awesome person and we met off social media. I had broken up with the relationship I had and at that point I was really not thinking of getting into any relationship. A friend of mine pointed her instagram page to me and I wasn’t really interested in surfing the internet at that point in time but then again, I had a second look at her page and I was liking her pictures and unconsciously she was liking my pictures and from there, we started talking and it was almost as if it was just meant to be. It was just two people with like minds coming together with a lot of positive chemistry being built up and then before you know anything it was like boom, it happened

You said you left a breakup.

I always like keeping my past away; they say that It is not nice to visit dead issues so when you’ve passed something, let it stay there. I don’t usually like talking about my exes because they all have their individual lives they’re living right now and it would be very impolite of me talking about someone’s life so I just face mine.

How do you handle your female admirers?

I grew up having female admirers all my life- right from being a child. In school, I always had female folks flocking around me so I’ve always been used to them, so, it’s nothing new to me. Being an actor just increased everything and I have a lot of attention from a lot of people; a lot of people like my work, my presence. They like me for my style, people like me for different reasons.

One thing I keep in mind is the fact that these people are basically 80% of the reason that my brand is established today. I know my lines and a lot of people know where they draw their own lines although a few people really don’t know where to draw the lines. However, it’s in my part to still be friendly and try to, in a mature way, deal with the situation.

There are rumors that you’ve slept with a lot of Nollywood actresses.

That can’t be true; people can only say what they want to say because a lot of people believe that you can only get something by selling your body but I don’t roll that way. I’m strictly God’s child and I belong to the ‘Umu Chineke community’, that is Children of God community. I’m strictly God’s property and he takes care of my business for me.

Most of the actresses are my friends, they’re like my sisters. I’ve probably dated one of them before which was probably out there and that’s what it is. If I was in a relationship with that person, it was a relationship and I don’t just go frolicking around from one actress to another

With who do you relate best on set?

A lot of people; as far as you’re a good actor and you can deliver, let’s do it. Worst thing for an actor is when you’re working with someone that can’t flow at your pace, it puts you off balance. Alex Ekubo and I, when we’re on set it’s the bomb because we just relate real good. I’ve worked with Majid Michel, John Dumelo, Van Vicker, a lot of actors and there’s always that chemistry on set.

Coming to the female folks we have Ini Edo, Martha Ankomah, Funke Akindele, Monalisa Chinda, Rukky Sanda, I’ve worked with a lot of female people. They are all wonderful actresses and when I’m given a script, we try to create a synergy and a chemical working environment for us to work and understand ourselves, so I can’t really pinpoint a particular person and say this is someone that I’ve had better chemistry working with.

A lot of people in Nigeria are against tattoos and you have lots of it on you. What’s your view on tattoo?

I respect their opinion but I think they should pay more attention to socio-economical problems that we have right now. We have a lot of issues in Nigeria; there’s Boko Haram, missing Chibok girls, there’s hike in price of the dollar, fuel price instability, there are a lot of things that people should focus on and not my tattoos. My tattoos should be my business with God and if you feel I’ll go to hell for having a tattoo, I’ll meet you in hell because the Bible says ‘Do not Judge’. If you’re judging me for having a tattoo, we’ll go and meet in hell and pop bottles of champagne, you get what I mean?

I’m a child of God and what I have on my body are psalms and to me it’s body art. I believe God doesn’t look at the outward; he looks at the heart so you can be busy living busybody life and then your heart is dirty but I keep my heart clean, that’s my business with God. My body is art and it’s like putting a cloth on my body; God won’t judge you because you’re wearing rags or because a girl is wearing miniskirts, He judges you from your heart.

How do you view modeling in Nigeria?

Modeling in Nigeria is a total mess of what it’s supposed to be. I’ve modeled in America, I’ve modeled in South Africa, I’ve modeled in U.K and I know how these things work. The modeling industry in Nigeria, from the models all the way to the agents, they are very unprofessional and there’s corruption in the system. You call a model that knows his worth for a billboard and you’re pricing him N500, 000 which is probably what the brand would have given him but the advertising agency wants to cut off the money and pay the model N200, 000.

The model who knows his worth is not going to collect that money but someone else is willing to come and do that job for free, so it’s corruption. It is very wrong when as a brand manager you are driving in a Range Rover Sport, the advertising agency workers are driving in big cars because of money they got from corruption and then models are busy flying bikes, it is wrong. We should all work hand in hand and let everyone feed instead of selfishly acquiring wealth for ourselves

What is your idea of a good actor?

A good actor is a good listener, a good actor is a person that can leave the shell of his personal self and become a character. A good actor is someone that is ready to read and understand his script. For me as a person, I started acting without the basic knowledge of what acting should really be but over time and experience, I got to realize that there’s more to acting than just being a fine boy or dressing good or reading lines. When you act you should actually feel what you’re acting and I’m working on myself every single day to try and become a very good actor.