By Juliet Ebirim

Ijeoma Imoh is a firebrand actress who would dare things most of her colleagues would consider untouchable. She once asserted she could act nude if Nollywood were Hollywood. Through the years, the fair-skinned jovial actress has grown older, wiser and has been thought a number of things by the hard knocks of life. In this interview she shares some of the things she has learnt as a Nollywood girl-about-town. Enjoy:

•Ijeoma Imoh

What are you currently working on?
Presently, I have a project at hand. I’m about to start my own movie production, which is in conjunction with BenTV, UK. Andy Boyo will be directing it. I’m so excited because it’s my first production. I also want to set up a car wash and mini-lounge. This car wash will be unique because it’s going to be females washing the cars. They’ll be trained to do it, but we’ll have about two or three males who would do the engine wash. I also do billboard adverts and voice-overs, I’ve done a couple of that with GLO and other companies.

Why did you choose to go into car wash business?
While I was growing up, being the last child, I was the one who always washed the cars at home. It never took me more than twenty minutes to do the washing. It was something I enjoyed doing. I always washed them without anyone asking me to, including the cars that didn’t belong to my family. That was how I even learned how to drive. There’s a saying that ‘What a man can do, a woman can do better’, so I want to compete with the men in this field. (Laughs)

Going down memory lane, how did you find yourself in the movie industry?
I started as a model. Whenever we had strikes back then in school, I would run down to Lagos to make quick money. I’d go to Shola’s studio to take some quick shots and meet some agents. I went for castings and so on, but I didn’t get the breakthrough at that point. People always told me that I would make a good actor and so a friend gave me a contact for a movie role casting. After that I went to the National Theatre where some auditions were going on. I met some top people in the industry. That first day, I got a lot of offers, but I wasn’t serious because I just came to have fun and make new friends. On my second visit to NCAC at the National Theatre, I got a job. Genevieve Nnaji, Late Enebeli Enebuwa, Georgina Onuoha, Charles Okocha were all part of the movie. It was the movie ‘Bumper to Bumper’ and I had two scenes in one night. After that, I went for several auditions, most times I didn’t get picked. I got most of my jobs when I went to Winnies’. There, you would see most of the producers, marketers, scriptwriters, thespians and so on.

What’s your impression of Nollywood?
I don’t know what we’re not getting right, but I think there’s something wrong somewhere because the music and comedy industry has gone ahead of us. We used to be number one. People used to look forward to seeing the likes of Genevieve, Omotola, Ramsey Noah, Tonto Dike, Patience Ozokwo on screen. But then, you cannot compare music and movies, because in music, the focus is on one person, but a movie is like a classroom, where people strive to be the best so as to stand out. Another issue is that of marketers shooting a couple of movies in a week, I do not understand it. I’ve not seen our people work together to produce a good job. When I watch foreign movies, I see a lot of collaborations. Here, people want to make the money alone and at the end of the day, they fail to do a good job.

How has the journey been for you?
At a point, I had to take a break from the industry, because of school and I also got carried away with my boyfriend at the time (Laughs). I wanted to prove that I was a good girl who could keep a relationship. I didn’t leave the movie scene completely but I wasn’t shooting regularly. Some people thought I was married, but I was just in love (Laughs). We planned to start an NGO, ‘Meet your favourite celebrity’. We even sent out letters to some celebrities. We went to a lot of private and public schools, discussed with principals to see how we could get celebrities to meet some of the students of these schools. I sought for sponsors, but somehow he didn’t believe in this dream, but I didn’t care because I was in love or maybe lust, only God knows (Laughs). What the whole thing taught me was that I made a mistake, not the mistake of falling in love, everyone does that, but the mistake of not realising that your profession is different from your relationship. You don’t mix business with pleasure. I failed to understand that he was neither my brother nor family member and that he could wake up one day and leave. I failed to realise that he met me on the job and that I was losing that job in the process of loving him. I wanted to please him to my own detriment. I learnt never to toy with your passion and that thing that pays your bills. The movie industry is very competitive, so the moment you give a little space there are a lot of girls willing to fill in and take over. So, right now it’s like starting all over again.

Was he also an actor?
Yes, but he left the industry eventually because it wasn’t paying his bills.

How’s your relationship with colleagues in the industry?
We’re like politicians. You don’t have friends and you don’t have enemies. I don’t see anyone as an enemy. My relationship with my colleagues is just cordial – we meet, we talk, we work and if you decide to beef me, I do same to you.

How desperate are you to make it in Nollywood?
I remember saying once that if Nollywood were to be Hollywood, I would act nude and I would not care what anyone thinks, because I know my money is sure. Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a part of the world that is very conservative when it comes to issues pertaining to women and culture.

So, are you in a relationship at the moment?
I would rather keep that private.

What attracts you to a man?
He has to be comfortable. I’m not saying he has to be rich, I just said he has to be comfortable. But if God decides to bless me with a rich man, great. There’s nothing as good as ‘needing’ something and also getting it, I don’t mean ‘want’. It’s painful when you need something and you don’t get it. If you get what you need, you’re happy and comfortable. Most ladies will say they want a God-fearing man and all that. I want a man with conscience, obviously, it means he knows God and he’ll be careful with the way he treats me. All I need is a presentable man with conscience. By presentable, I mean in terms of education, physique, psychologically, mentally, intellectually and otherwise. Love is not enough for a relationship to work, but throw in honest communication and everything is balanced.