I am a Simple Warri Boy - RMD

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Nollywood star actor, Richard Mofe Damijo who was recently appointed special adviser to the Delta state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan is learning the process well.

In this brief chat at an event in Asaba, Delta state, he speaks on how he copes with his new assignment, how he handled his female fans while he was actively acting and explains that his new appointment has not separated him from his career. Enjoy;

As a government official now, what is your new job like?

It is challenging, but I am learning the process. I am a fast learner, thank God for that and there are people there who are guiding me in the process of trying to understand that things are done differently here. I’m enjoying it.

What happens to your acting career?

No o ,I haven’t really left acting. I’m going to be doing a lot of local work here to build the industry here, so there’s really no leaving the art. I am going to teach, I am going to coach and I’m going to inspire, so I’m still involved in acting one way or the other.

May be not as much as I used to in front of the camera, but I’m going to be doing a lot behind the cameras for now. For instance in the month of March, we have set in motion the Delta Entertainment Summit where stakeholders in the music and movies business will gather in Warri to talk about the best ways of entrenching the right tenets of showbizness.

We expect people like Emeka Mba of the National Film and Video Censors Board, Dr Don Pedro Obaseki, and a host of others in Warri. This will reduce if not stop restiveness in the area and inspire several others to benefit from art.

Now that you have a more tasking job, how do you joggle between your family and this tasking job?
This is not more tedious. Every work is tedious, what you aim for is a balance. Every work takes you away from your family, what you do is to create a balance between your family and your job.

Make a flash back as to how your journey in the arts all started?

I think it just a childhood fantasy and I also studied Theater Arts, so I guess it was a natural calling.

Obstacles and challenges dogged your path, how did you overcome?

Making sure that I sold the idea that being an actor does not necessarily mean being intellectually berated. What I have tried to do is to give the actors some integrity that after the acting you also have some brains.

Is it true that female actresses have to sleep around with producers and directors to get roles?

I didn’t go through that experience myself, so I can’t speak for the others because I don’t think anybody that I have worked with even as a producer or as a director would have had to go through that to get any role from me. For me, merit is what matters.

Sex can only take you so far, but if you don’t have any talent, no matter how many people you sleep with, you will not make progress.

How did you or how do you handle your female fans, every one knows they are too numerous and still come in droves?

There is no written text book on how to handle them. It is by the grace of God. I try being nice to everybody and I try to put everybody in their place and I also make them know that there are limits to every thing in life including star adulation.

If you are opportuned to change anything in the Nigerian entertainment industry, what will it be?
Get rid of all the charlatans.

Who are the charlatans?

Those who give professionals bad name. Those who don’t know anything about the profession but think they must participate.

They don’t research before they write their scripts, they don’t research before they act and when they come up with their films or styles, they are not up to standard and people use that to judge professionals.

How would you describe your self?

A simple Warri boy.

Who is your role model?

I have plenty , but I’ll mention Wole Soyinka and Nelson Mandela.

What type of clothes do you wear?

I wear anything good. Mudi makes my clothes

What about shoes?

I wear anything good that suit me.

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KOK - From Digging Pit Toilets to Nollywood

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Tell us a little about your childhood, growing up, parents, brothers and sisters?

I was brought up under the strict guidance of Mr and Mrs Donatus and Isabella Onyekwere, my parents, with catholic tenets and Apostolic reverence for God. I have 2 sisters and an elder brother. Growing up was fun, I used to plait my hair a lot but papa never liked it.

What was the first paying job ever that you had?

”Digging pit toilets with an older relative”.

How much were you paid per month and what were the responsibilities?

I Can’t remember the payment. I was on ground receiving red sand while the older relative dug deep.

What other jobs did you do outside Acting?

I used to travel to Aba from lagos to buy and sow shirts and suits materials which I took around to banks, NTA e.t.c to sell.

What made you go into the Acting Career and when did you start Acting (year)?

I started acting in 1982. I got into acting out of a personal desire to bring smiles to the faces of people, because about 1980, there were not too many T.V sets then, characters on TV were admired greatly, and were seen as role models.

Who was/were your Idols/Models (Actors) in those days?

Matt Dadzie.

What was your first role in Theatre, TV or Movies?

I Can’t recall my first role on TV but on movies was Chief Omego in “Living in Bondage” in 1992.

What was your major break-through role and in what film, series or play?

My major breakthrough was No.7

What were the constraints you had to face and overcome as an up-and-coming Actor (young actor)?

The major constraint as a young actor was the bureaucratic processing of payment forms at the Nigeria Television Authority, one spent over 70% of his artiste fee before getting paid. It was very discouraging because parents still had to cough out transport fares for their wards who are supposed to be earning their wages.

How many films have you been involved with as an Actor to date?

Above 120 films - (1) Blood money, (2) Rituals, (3.) Lost kingdom, (4.) Fire on the Mountain, (5) Billionaires Club, and (6) Entangled, to name a few.

As a DYNAMIC, OUTSTANDING, 'A'-List Actor, how have you managed to adapt to the different range of roles you have played in your career?

Simply by thinking yourself into the role.

What is the most awkward or strangest role you have had to take/play in your career and why?

No roles are strange or awkward, roles pose challenges and I love challenges.

What film have you been most proud to be involved with so far, and why?

“Blood Money”, because it was shot in the thick of the Otokoto Saga in Owerri, and the viewing public applauded its social relevance.

As an 'A'-List Actor yourself, what other 'A'-List Actors or Actresses have worked or collaborated with?

Olu jacobs, Pete Edochie, Liz Benson, Omotola Ekehinde, Genevive Nnaji, Justus Esiri etc.

Did you at anytime want to quit your Acting career for something else or for a reason, and why (if any)?

The industry took a break for 4 months in 2002 to restructure, I felt like quitting the profession when I found out as a representative of the Actors Guild in the CWC that most members we worked with were agents sent to destabilise and derail plans for a better welfare for actors.

What is the motivation for you or what keeps you interested in this career every morning you wake up?

Public Opinion. Just knowing that I bring joy constantly into their lives, especially in this economically difficult times.

How important are our Nigerian roots, morals, values, knowledge and sense of wisdom to you and your works?

They are the only identity we have as Nigerians.

On the stories, scripts, or screen play of your films, and its impact on the Nigerian/African cultural values (home and abroad), how do you manage to harness, keep and pass them across in your films?

I ensure that I only participate in films with social relevance.

As a Producer, Director and filmmaker also, how is this different for you from Acting and what is the additional drive for you?

The additional drive is that I encourage script writers writers by contributing freely to re-working scripts.

What projects are you working on at the moment and with whom?

I am presently working on a project, part of which will be shot in South Africa. It has a working title at the moment, so it’s better kept secret. Where do you see yourself in this career in the next five years?

The future is very bright with a focused army of practitioners travelling in and out of the country to create awareness for our industry. With Governments “sudden interest” and relevant implementable policies, co-producers/production companies will come in from abroad to make movies in conjunction with Nigerian enterprises.

Where do you see the Nigerian movies industry in the next couple of years?

From the above, a better welfare for me translates into a better and professionally managed industry.

When you are not working (Acting, producing, directing or making a film), what do you do or how do you pass the time?

I run a media consultancy outfit, and own a cyber cafй in Lagos. I spend some time with my family (which I take very seriously). My schedule is too tight right now for any other activities.

What kind of music do you listen to and who is your favourite musician?

Classical music, Jazz, Roots Rock Reggae, and Indigenous African music. Fela and Bob Marley.

Is there an International Actor (American, British, Australian, African, etc.) you will want to work with if the opportunity presented itself?

Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, and Al Pacino.

What message do you have for your international fans in America, United kingdom, Europe, Africa and its Diaspora?

Keep the African spirit alive by being good ambassadors, think about home always, and imbibe virtues abroad to be used to extinguish the vices.

For any reason at all, how would you personally want your fans to remember you?

I want to be remembered as that guy who made drama look real.

I'm reading: KOK - From Digging Pit Toilets to Nollywood

Dakore Egbuson - a consummate actress, singer, TV presenter, and an amateur photographer

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Dakore Omobola Egboson, an Ijaw from Bayelsa. “My growing up was great,” says Dakore. “And I mean it, in the full sense of the word. I was very well taken care of. Sometimes people say I’m spoilt.” From Corona Primary School in Gbagada, Lagos to Federal Government College Bauchi, and to A-Z international, Ajao Estate, Lagos, she carried her musical, athletic, and acting skills. At presently she has a Diploma in Mass communication, majoring in PR and Advertising.

Light and lovely Dakore, is in her mid-twenties, and she is a consummate actress, singer, TV presenter, and an amateur photographer. She is the first child of her family and she’s got four younger ones: three boys and a girl. She lives with her mum in Lagos, while her father resides in New York, USA.

In this Saturday Sun Style expose, Dakore, (her native way of saying a child who takes after her father) talks about her person and her persona; her fans and her future; plus, her smarts and her style.

A Dakore day
Like the sticker on her Benz 190, ‘everyday is a plus’ for Dakore. The first thing she does every break of the day is “pray. I don’t talk to anyone, but I talk to my creator because I believe for everyday you wake up you have to give thanks.” After giving thanks, she takes tea with mummy, “I have green tea; my mum drinks coffee.

We chat; talk about what we are going to do that day and all that. But I won’t say I have any typical day, because, sometimes, if I am on set, I just have to go off to work. But if some days like now when I am just chilling, I could just have a lazy day, and enjoy it. I try and catch up with friends, do other stuffs, and maybe check my emails.”

What I write on autographs
“I haven’t being to the market in a long time, the last time I went, that was January, at Tejuosho Market, I got mobbed. I enjoyed it, but I was a bit scared. So my mum was like, ‘don’t worry, I go to the market; you cook.’” This tells how difficult it is for Dakore, no matter how hard she tires, to go 30minutes outside her house without one or two persons pumping into her, ‘Hi, I love the way you act, could you please write something here?’

So what does she write on autographs? “I just write whatever I feel from the fan who wants the autograph. But generally I write ‘Thank you for your love and support. Peace.’ ‘You mean a lot to me; all the best’ ‘You’re wonderful;’ ‘You’re great…’ Just whatever vibe I get from the fan, then I write something special.

I don’t think fans will like something you just write for everyone, you know. If I were to get an autograph, and I’ve gotten some autographs from some really cool people and they wrote something individual to me, and I appreciated that more than if you just wrote at random, ‘Thanks a lot,’ or something. I try and do a little extra for them. They are the ones that watch the movies; they’re the ones that make me have the career because they like what I do. I don’t take them for granted – not for one minute. I don’t but I have a fan club yet, though I’ve had offers from my fans to do a fan club for me but because I want to have my website up first; I’m constructing it right now. When it’s ready, I’ll have a special segment for fans.”

Negative and positive vibes
You don’t expect everybody to like Dakore, do you? She shares a negative experience: “I only had such experience once. It was a group of girls, they were like, ‘you ain’t s**t.’ I thought to myself, ‘They have to be really bitter to tell me that.’ But I just said, ‘its okay, you’re entitled to your own opinion.’ It helped me because that was when I knew everyone couldn’t like me and I just shrugged it off. But I get more positive feedback than negative. For every negative feedback, I get a hundred positive. I would be lying if I say I don’t get any negative. What I do is, I don’t let it get to me.”

African yet modern
“I love African stuff, you know, even if it’s not print, but it has to have that African thing. It’s my persona; it’s where I am mentally. I have emancipated myself from the mental slavery that comes with the western way of doing things. I’m an amalgamation of those two. Seeing that I’m contemporary – young, and I am African inside. My ear rings are cowries, the top has cowries: it’s contemporary but with an African edge. I’m kind of the meeting point between the two. We are all products of the colonial mentality but you can also make your own twist on it. Living in London made me realize who I was more than when I was here. Because when you are away; when you see yourself in a sea of white people, you become more aware of whom you are.

And her hair…
“I guess that also influenced my hairstyle, you know. I just got tired of perming my hair and I got all locked up. It’s four years this April that I have been wearing the dreads. It’s not the easiest hairstyles to maintain but it’s less stressful. because I don’t have to go to the Saloon all the time, sit under a drier all the time; it’s basically something I just have to wash once a week, get it twisted once in two months, at a professional saloon. It’s quite easy and it’s natural. And it’s so long. I’ve never had my hair grow this long while I was perming it. So I think something is to be said for being natural.”

My nails
“Most of them are my nails the ones that are not my nails are those I fix to make it even. I keep long nails for work, basically. Left to me, I wouldn’t keep them long because when I was in London, I had to wash, I had to do everything, but here, because I’m the oldest I have younger ones, they’re ready to do anything I want. Its only when I’m cooking that’s when I put my hand in water or wash some of my clothes For work, it makes you look well groomed. Not to say if you have the normal nails, you don’t look well groomed. It’s just that it makes you look more elegant too, yeah.”

Making up
A closer look at Dakore gives away an innate beauty. With a bias on her face alone, three out of guys can’t resist the shape of her nose, four confess her oval lips are her most inviting facial feature, and three say her eyes are what they wish their girlfriends had.

For Dakore, good looks are not all make ups. “I am not a make-up freak, but I love to play with make-ups. Ever since I was a kid, when my mum would be doing her make-up, I’ll just look and say ‘I can’t wait for the day when I can do my own.’ And, because I wear make-up a lot when I’m working, I’ve been able to perfect it. People always say, ‘your make up is really nice you do it for yourself?’ I like make ups, but I’m not crazy about it. I’m a bit edgy with it but not too much. I don’t like wearing too much make ups. I like looking very natural.

Age at first love
“Eighteen. I finished secondary school when I was fifteen, so my Dad said, ‘you want to tell me you want to go to the university now? You must be joking.’ So I was doing JAMB lesson then, and he (first love) was in the same lesson with me and that’s it. (What was your first kiss like?) It was very nice. That’s all I’m going to say. It was too long ago anyway. And it was with my first love. (Where he is now?) Happily married to a wonderful woman, they just had a kid, and I saw them and I was very happy. (And you still talk?) We talk…we talk, no hard feelings at all.”

My Wedding day, how I want it to be
“What is most important to me for my wedding day is that I would be marrying the right man, because at the end of the day, a wedding day could be fantastic, but the actual wedding could be crap. So I’m more concerned about having a blissful marriage. I actually prefer a low-key wedding. I don’t know if I’ll get my wish because my mum would definitely want everybody that is somebody to be there. Left to me, I’ll want it to be low-keyed. I just want it to be a day where all my friends and all my family and his family just merge, because there would be that close knit feel rather than a carnival. God ultimately knows what it’ll be like, but I know it would be beautiful, I don’t know how; I don’t even have a colour scheme on mind or anything like that. I’ve not thought of it to that point, but I just want everything to be beautiful, and with the right person.”

Who’s the ‘rightperson?’
“I can’t tell you his name, I can’t tell you what he does except, well I can say is his a very warm person, very supportive of my work, and I just happy we met. We met somewhere in Lagos. We just started seeing each other. He is Nigerian. That’s what I’m going to say, but he is not from Bayelsa State. In three years time, I would hopefully be at the top of my game professionally, you know, and in every aspect. Settled, happily married with children. I would like to have just three kids – boys and girls. I don’t mind two boys and a girl, or girls and a boy, as far as I get both sexes.”

How photogenic is she?
Kelechi Amadi-Obi, one of Nigeria’s prime proficient photographers, who Dakore described as ‘a professional that pays attention to details’ responds: “She is extremely photogenic. She’s one of the extremely photogenic actresses we have around. When she is in front of the camera, you just snap away. She’s almost like the top professional models we have around.”

I'm reading: Dakore Egbuson - a consummate actress, singer, TV presenter, and an amateur photographer