Author: The Nation

Spunky, astute, and alluring Nollywood actress Rita Dominic, was the cynosure of all eyes when she stormed the podium at this year’s edition of Nana Aba Anamoah’s Women of Valour (WoV) conference, in Accra, Ghana, where she spoke about her journey of self-discovery. She talked about dealing with depression, finding true love, and how she floored her critics, writes OLAITAN GANIU

Rita, the ‘TV eyes’

Rita Dominic faces different formidable hurdles that later moulded her into the figure she is today. Darkness could have dimmed her sparkling light, but she was destined to be a star.

“My mother said that when she gave birth to me, I literally came out of her stomach, singing and dancing,” she said, giggling.

“In fact, as a baby, I remember my older sister telling me that I would watch anything on television even if it was news, I would have this very serious stared that a baby doesn’t have. I’m always staring at the television with deep concentration, to the extent that they started calling me ‘TV eyes’.

This her quirky personality fueled her passion to nurture the ideal of becoming a screen goddess. As the youngest child of her parents. She started exhibiting her talents – singing and acting – to her sisters and neighbours. Later, she began entertaining her friends in school. In return, they would give her pittance and other child gifts to keep up her performance energy.

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“I carried on doing that for years. But back then, respected professionals like medical practitioners, lawyers, engineers, and architects saw actors as wayward people. My dreams seemed unattainable at the time, but what prevented me from giving up my dreams was the unwavering support of my mother.”

Indeed, she is her mother’s daughter

Unlike many African parents who often discourage their children from pursuing a career in entertainment, Dominic, whose parents were healthcare professionals, received full support of her parents.

“I was blessed with a courageous mother who defied societal expectations at the time. She nurtured my dreams. In fact, her guidance propelled me to move on even in the face of uncertainty.

Continuing the 48-year-old actress said, “I’m sharing my mother’s story because, one day, you might be the courageous person who supports another woman’s dream, even if it is not your child. You might be the shoulder of another woman to lean on. Like Serena Williams tells us, every woman’s success should be an inspiration to another. We are strongest when we cheer each other on.”

After her mother instilled the confidence in her, she is ready for the battlefield. “Despite having parental support on my acting journey, my unshakable believe in my dream of becoming an actor required self-courage.”

So, she decided to study Theatre Arts at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where she obtained a degree in 1999.

“I studied Theatre arts, and I majored in acting. In fact, I was the only student who majored in acting our final year as others ran away from it,” she enthused.

…she makes her acting debut with a lead role

In 1999, she featured as a lead character in a movie entitled, ‘My Guy’ as a fresh graduate. This happened after she met a veteran comedian Basorge Tariah Jr., who was her senior at the university.

She said, “Luckily for me, my first role in Nollywood was pure luck. After struggling for a few months in Lagos, I ran into an old student who we studied Theatre Arts together at the same university, but he was a few years ahead of me. His name is Basorge, and he is a popular comedian.

“He just said to me, ‘I’m looking to cast an unknown actor in a story; I think you fit it perfectly’. I thought it was a joke until he gave me the script, and that was how I went on to do my first lead role in Nollywood.”

Facing the camera was a big challenge.

It’s common to feel nervous when facing on camera for the first time, with some people even experiencing difficulty in speaking. This exactly want happened to her.

“In school, we were taught to for stage, not for film. Meaning, film and stage acting were completely different. So, when I got on set, I was so confused. I did not understand what I was doing at all.”

But her director, Basorge, guided her through the filming process: “He was patient with me. He told me that on stage, we were taught that you should exaggerate and be lively, but in front of the camera, you should be very subtle. So, I had to learn all these things afresh.”

Guess what happened to her after making a debut as a ‘stargal’ in the film?

“When you start your career with a leading role, it can trick you into thinking that you’ve arrived or that you’re a big star,” she said giggling.

After the excitement of beginning her career on a high note, life happened to her. The acting jobs dried up and to make matters worse, her precious mother passed away.

“My mother, my rock, my support system died in 2001. I will never forget the day when I watched her die in my arms. My older brother and I, my father, watched her slip away. I think about her all the time, as her memory never leaves. It was unbearable for me because I felt she was supposed to be here celebrating and watching me chase my dreams. She was instrumental to who I am today.”

Dominic prayed for a plane clash

The consequences of losing a biological parent could lead to increased risks for schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and other mental issues. So, the sad incidence made her beseeched for her flight to crash on air.

She said, “After her death, I was in a bad place, and I felt like there was no reason to keep going on. During the burial arrangement, I remember being on a turbulent plane from Imo State going back to Lagos, but I did not flinch because I wanted the flight to crash. I was praying that I want this plane to crash so I could see my mother and be with her again.”

Then, her father’s health got deteriorated too. “Life for me took a turn for the worse, both emotionally and financially. My father’s health declined, and he became ill. You know, when a couple is very close and one dies, it affects the other one. I think my father actually stopped living the day my mother died.”

Becoming an orphan brought a mix of challenges that later turbulent her acting career.

She said, “I found myself losing faith in the slow growth of Nollywood; waiting months between jobs felt like an eternity, and then I lost some close friends whom I considered family.”

Then she was rendered homeless, “It was just a turbulent time in my life. I don’t want to dwell too much on that dark period, but it led me to hit rock bottom. I became homeless. I was squatting with people to stretch, and when I say squatting, I’m talking about three to four people in a room. It was a friend’s space, and I was staying there in Lagos,” Dominic said.

She finds a way to ‘Japa’

In 2000, her siblings processed her travelled to London. She said, “In 2001–2002, I put my dreams of stardom on hold as I stopped acting. I left the movie industry and moved to London because it was a very dark period. I had all sorts of issues as I fell out with some friends I considered family, and I just gave up acting for a while. I needed to leave that space for some time. This is something I never told people before.”

While in London, she worked as a caregiver to survive.

“I started working as a caregiver in a care home for adults with special needs. Gradually, I started getting myself together. Some might view it as a step down; I don’t. You see, taking care of others brought me joy and purpose at the time I needed it most. Remember, I took care of my parents when they were ill because I was alone with them, she narrated.”

No place like home

In 2003, after saving some money in abroad, she returned to home country to move her properties to London. She said, “That was when Nollywood beginning to thrive. In fact, they were now calling it Nollywood because we used to call it the Nigerian film industry then.

“Some of the film producers were urging me to stay, but I felt it was risky, I didn’t want to lose my job in abroad, and I had also started a drama school in London. A few days before I was to go back to London, Genevieve Nnaji called me and told me that she had given my number to a producer for a film. I was like, ‘You know I’m going back?’ and she advised me to listen to what they had to offer.

“I considered the offer as the producer signed me on for a project and we started working on different projects… and the jobs kept coming. At some point, I decided that I was going to stay in Nigeria and the rest is now history.”

That was how she regained her lost fame, featuring in a string of movies and dramas, including ‘Children of Terror’, ‘Back from America’, ‘The Intruder’ with Richard Mofe Damijo and Stella Damasus-Aboderin, ‘The Meeting’, ’76’, ‘Shattered’ among. She has since featured in over 100 motion-picture projects.

Over the years, she has won several local and international awards, including the City People Awards in 2004 as the Most Outstanding Actress. She is the only actress to have won the AMVCA’s Best Actress award in both the drama and comedy categories. She is also the only West African actress to have won Kenya’s Kalasha Awards.

 Finding love at ‘old age’

The news of her marriage to Fidelis Anosike, publisher of the Daily Times, was met with criticism and backlash on social media.

On April 19, 2022, the couple held their traditional wedding in the actress’s state of origin, Imo State.

“My sweetheart, my husband, traveled down to my state, Imo, to marry me traditionally,” she said.

“My story about finding love and ultimately marrying a man I love at an age that most Africans consider old was vigorously discoursed for my amusement on social media.

“As we celebrated, glimpses of resistance emerged from certain quarters, notably from self-appointed gatekeepers of African culture. Their collective reaction revealed a societal mindset deeply ingrained that often denies women the agency to decide when and whom to marry.”

Explaining the reason for the cyber-attack, Dominic said it was because she refused to conform to societal norms of getting married at a certain age.

“For years, I was hounded with the ‘when will you marry brigade,’, ‘when are you going to marry’, ‘you no go marry’, or you are old ooo!,” she said.

“I always brush it up with the truth, when I find someone that I care enough to marry. I’ll marry the man of my dreams, not the man society dreams for me. To be honest with you, it was not easy. The world would not care about your happiness in marriage, you are the one that will live with the person and love the person, not the society. So I refuse to yield to those societal pressures because, above all, I am human,” she said.