From a humble beginning in
1996 on the set of "Beyond Our Dreams", a TV soap, Ihiala, Anambra
State-born Benita Nnenna Adaeze
Nzeribe, is now a top player in Nollywood movies. Here is the interview she granted in May, 2012. Read on.
You have been absent from the screen for some time
now. When did you bounce back?
I have been back since late
last year and since then I have been very much around working. As you can see,
I am on location now and by next week I will be at Asaba for another movie
location. I have been working since that
last year. And I have one movie already in the market and another one any
moment from now would also be in the market. After all these, I will get back
to my feet to produce my own movie.
Does it mean that scripts were waiting for you, why
such a rush from producers?
I don’t call it rush because
I don’t rush my things. I think they saw me and believe I can interpret a
particular role and they allowed me to have them. They are taking their time to
know who fits a particular role.
You made mention of producing your own movie, what’s
the idea?
I intend extending my tentacles to that area.
This particular movie I am about doing in collaboration with a foreign-based
company. In the next few weeks, I would be able to talk about it better. Right
now, I don’t just want to blow it. I am going to bring my crew from outside the
country and a lot of people would be given the opportunity to showcase their
talents to the world.
What is the movie about?
It is about us and our
culture. We are putting finishing touches to the story and my director would
not want me to blow it up yet until we are set with it. Like I said, very soon
it would be everywhere.
At a point you were big in the industry. Suddenly you
vanished into oblivion. Why?
At a point, it was becoming a
do-or-die affair in the industry and like I said earlier, I am not a desperado.
I decided to try my hands on other businesses around. That was why I took a
break from the industry, now I am back.
Does that mean you have been into business all this
while?
Yes I went into contract, in
Abuja, but I was shuttling here and outside the country. I was on and off. But
now I am fully back to my job.
What has been the secret of your fame in the industry
over the years?
I don’t know about other
people, but for me, it has been God and the fact that I aim high. I don’t look
at people; I look at myself and God. The secret is faith in God and I am very,
very patient person; when I believe in something, I go for it, no matter how
long it will take to come through. Patience goes a long way in success and I
have that Patience. I am not always in a hurry. I take my time and wait upon
the Lord for the fulfillment of my heart desires.
You are sounding like a Christian, are you one?
Oh yea…I am very passionate
about God, no apologies. From day one, I have always loved God; forget what you
see on the screen - somebody has to do that, somebody has to play those roles
and I play it professionally. Once the camera is on, I am that character until
the camera goes off. Once it is off, I am back to Benita, a God-fearing woman.
That is why when I act a bitchy role, you think I am bitchy and when I act a
good girl, you think I am good. It is all make-believe. When it has to do with
a bitchy role I am a bitch to the core and when it is a good girl role, I
become a good girl par excellence. I believe that is what acting is all about.
When you act and people know that you are acting, then you are getting it
wrong; but when you do it and people see it as being real, that means you are
doing it well and that is exactly what I do. The public should stop seeing me
from the angle of the roles I play. You see people don’t understand me. I live
my roles.
Your acting career, how did you come about it?
I loved watching movies as a
little girl. I think it started from when I accompanied someone to a movie
audition. I remember vividly that the crowd on that day was just too much and
people where pushing themselves here and there. I wasn’t just comfortable with
that scenario so I screamed out for orderliness. You need to know how tiny I
was then and from that singular act of my outspokenness I was noticed and at
the end given a script. I think that was in 1997. I didn’t know then that they
were still searching for their lead cast so at the end I got a lead role. That
is why I keep saying that my fame came from God. It was a soap opera entitled
Beyond Our Dream. I was also an English undergraduate then at Abia State
University. I came in basically because of my love for acting. In fact, I
started coming form the east to Lagos for auditions while still in a convent
school then. I attended several auditions here in Lagos. My first movie was
around the year 2000. I did two movies at a stretch then, Notorious Virgin and
Gold Diggers. But it was the soap opera that actually brought me to limelight.
What has been the experience so far in the industry
like?
It’s been interesting over
the years. Ups and downs, it is so in every business. The industry is a place
you make mistakes and learn from them. So it’s been good.
And how are you coping with stardom?
I have been able to live with
it over the years; it’s just a matter of respecting oneself and respecting
others as well. Stardom also calls for one being extra careful in whatever you
do because all eyes are on you.
Now that you have grown to this level, how are you
giving back to the society?
I have an NGO that focuses on
helping the widows, motherless babies, and little girls with VVF. I don’t like
blowing my trumpet; it’s like announcing your offering in the church. I don’t
do that. How I give back is between me and my God, even the new movie I’m going
into will also serve as a means of giving opportunity to new acts to show off
themselves, get footholds and grow in the industry.
Tell us about your background?
I am from Ihiala Local
Government Area of Anambra State. I was born in Aba because that was where my
parents lived and they are still living there. My primary and secondary schools
were also in Aba and Umuahia. I attended a Convent school with the hope of
becoming a reverend sister. But I left when I felt I was not called towards
that. My growing up was also normal and nice. Growing up was fun for me. We are
four in my family: two boys, two girls. I’m the third child. Dad is an
international businessman and mum is a retired Chief Nurse. So I be Nwa Aba, an
Aba-brought up to the core (Laughs)
What was your parents’ reaction when you ventured into
movie?
I am not from a family where
you are pushed around to do what you don’t want to do; though they had their
reservations, I later proved them otherwise within a year. Like I told you I
started with a soap opera which was on the network and I played the lead
female. Luckily, it was successful. What more can you ask from a young girl as
a parent?
Tell us about your academic background
I attended Abia State
University where I obtained a Bachelor degree in English language.
Does the course you read in anyway give you advantage
over your colleagues?
I don’t think so. It is all
about loving what you do and thriving in it.
What do you think makes relevant to producers?
I think this question has to
go to producers and directors because I actually don’t know. They know why they
would always say this role is for Benita and no one else. Apart from that, a
director has a particular person in mind when he picks up a script, sometimes
during the writing process they attribute some things they know you can do well
to the script (though I stand to be corrected).
Perhaps, it’s your beauty that attracts the producers
-
(Laughs) I don’t know about
that one; everywoman is beautiful, beauty is not just physical but something of
the mind and it is an inward thing.
What is the current state of Nollywood, from your own
perspective?
Some would say the industry
is growing while others are saying otherwise. But I tell you I see a success
story in every situation, the industry has grown and will continue to grow. I
see better days ahead and I believe we are on the right track.
How do you feel about incessant marriage crashes in
the industry?
I don’t like it when people
attribute marriage crashes to Nollywood, we are human beings and the fact that
one’s marriage crashes is not because she is an actress. For crying out loud,
we have doctors, lawyers, bankers, among others, that are facing similar thing
and nobody is blowing them up. I try to make people believe that there are many
stars that are still enjoying their marriages. Nobody is happy to have a break
up because there was love before the marriage. Even the media is not helping
matter; you are an actress and you lodge in a hotel with Mr. A or Mr. B, then
someone will see you and go back and write what he feels about you, knowing
well that nothing exist between you and the Mr. A. When you write all these
things, even if the husband would understand, what about his family members?
Would they also understand? And most times people take the movie roles one
plays to be the person’s real self and the press still worsen it by writing
something negative about you. It’s not fair. It hurts! We are decent human
beings with consciences contrary to opinions about us, especially as prejudiced
in the media.
Talking
about love, do you believe in it?
Yes I do, I really do believe
in love but I don’t like talking about love because it is a foul cry in this
area. Love is something you can’t even control, it’s something beyond
definition. It’s something that accepts you the way you are – both your good
and bad aspects.
How does it feel to be heartbroken?
That is what I am saying,
maybe what they call love is an extreme form of likeness. It really hurts to be
heartbroken; at times it would look as if the entire world has forsaken you.
Share your heartbreak experience with us
It has been overblown in the
past and I have moved on with my life. It’s been over blown that I flushed my
engagement ring inside the toilet. I am happy now. I made a mistake and that
was in the past.
But did you actually flush your engagement ring inside
the toilet?
Yes I did. I was in a
relationship and it crumbled. So I did and I don’t want to talk about it
anymore. I have since then moved on with my life.
What did you learn from that heartbreak experience?
I learnt to be careful and
not to trust any man again. Most men are not what you may think they are; they
may fail you but God will never fail you.
Do you think lesbianism has really spread and affected
Nollywood?
I don’t have the facts about
the existence of such in the industry and nobody has approached me and nobody
will think about that. You don’t just see any woman and you walk up to her for
such act; I believe there are tendencies that ignites them, if you say there
are lesbians in Nollywood tell me who are involved. Tell me!
When was your most depressed moment?
That was when my relationship
crumbled and that was long time ago and when I lost money in business - big
money and I learnt from it not to trust anybody in business. I don’t trust
people when it comes to money. No matter who you are, when it comes to business,
I will not trust you.
Share your most embarrassing moment as an actress with
us.
That was in a supermarket
where I went for shopping. Something fell from a woman’s shopping bag and I
picked it for her but she turned against me and said: You! So you can be nice
like this! I said “Ma, what do you mean?” She replied by asking me: “Do you
know how much I hated you?” In the end, I told her to try and watch the movies
where I played good roles after which I know she would stop hating me. The
Second one was in an airplane. A woman just walked up to me and said: I hate you. I asked why and she said: it’s
because my husband loves you. All those things you do…taking peoples husbands
and wearing those useless things”. I protested, “Madam I was paid to do that. My
director asked me to do it I didn’t just do it!” At the end, she became my
friend.
What is your view about acting nude?
I don’t judge people who do
it but as for me I cannot because I am an African woman, I am an Igbo girl and
I don’t have the guts to act nude. I can show you all the cleavages by wearing
skimpy wears but I can’t go nude. Skimpy wears, fine. I have respect for myself
as a woman.
Where are you seeing yourself in five years time?
I expect to be high up there.
And probably in a man’s house by then?
Definitely I will be in a
man’s house.
When exactly?
I will marry very soon and I
don’t want to talk about it. Don’t worry, when the time comes I will give you
notice!
Talking about marriage who is your ideal man?
I want a man that is
complete. A man that will understand, respect and love me. That is my idea of a
real man.
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