Category: Entertainment

Young Nigerian actress, Gbemisola Scarlet Gomez was born Gbemisola Scarlet Shotade before meeting her husband in a music studio. She’s one young woman, who has been on the Nigerian entertainment scene for a while. Though she’s widely known for her lead role in the Showmax Original telenovela series Wura, she got her first acting role by accident. She spoke with ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR GBENGA BADA on how she made her first millions at age 15 modelling and contesting at pageants.

How did the name Scarlet come about, is it just a stage name?

A lot of people think Scarlet is a stage name, but it’s not. It was mother-given. I always like to say that I think my mom was trying to show off that she read English and wanted people to know by giving me an English name. But I thank God she gave me the name because it’s cute, and I didn’t have to look for a stage name.

You started with beauty pageants, then music videos, and now film, how did that transition happen?

I wanted to be a newscaster or a presenter, but everything else was just a means to an end for me. It was me as a young Nigerian youth looking at life and thinking, “It’s just me and my brother left.” We lost our dad when I was eight, and we didn’t want the entire burden to be on my mom, seeing how she was struggling. I asked myself, “What can I bring to the table?” That was how I got into modelling, pageants, and then acting. But once I stumbled into acting, I fell in love with it.

How exactly did you get into modelling?

I was just walking down the street one day when a man approached me. I was skinny and you could tell my height from afar. This man was just passing by my street when he saw me from the other side, crossed over, and said, “Fine girl, would you like to be a model?”

I thought models needed training and everything, and I knew nothing about it, but he said, “No, we can train you.”

I told him, “First off, if you can talk to my mom and she says yes, no problem.” And he was like, “Where’s your mom?” I said, “She’s upstairs.” He said, “Can I go and see her now?” I said, “Peace of the Lord be with you.”

So he went upstairs. I was expecting to hear an argument, but I heard nothing. I thought, “What’s going on?” I went upstairs, and my mom just looked at me. In my mind, I thought, “When this man leaves, this woman is going to beat the hell out of me.”

But when he left, she didn’t say anything. She just asked, “So what time is the audition tomorrow?” I was amazed. He told her about an audition the next day, and she was fine with it. I was shocked because I had always thought my mom was super strict and only wanted me to do what she approved of. But that moment made me realise that maybe if I was vocal enough to tell her what I wanted, she would let me do it.

That was how the journey started. I went for the audition and won. I became the first Face of Spice Television. That’s how I got into modelling, and I enjoyed it. Growing up with boys, it was fascinating to suddenly be around girls; seeing how they fought, spoke, and had catfights was intriguing. That reeled me in, and from there, I started going for auditions. I did MBGN (Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria), and I attended almost 10 pageants.

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Did your mom know you were attending those pageants?

Yes, she did. She saw the prize money I was bringing home, and it was helping us. She always knew where I was going and what I was doing. I made my first million at 15.

What did you do with your first million?

I gave everything to my mom. I kept giving her all my earnings because that was the whole point, I wanted to help. I lacked nothing as a child. If I wanted something, my mom would try her best to provide it. And if she couldn’t, we knew it was because she genuinely couldn’t afford it. We were raised with contentment. My dad always said, “If you have just two pairs of jeans and your neighbour has ten, wear yours well, and they will still envy you.” So, I grew up with that mentality. Until I was about 21 or 22, I gave everything I earned to my mom because I felt like she needed it more. If I needed anything, I knew I could always go to her.

How did you get into movies?

It was by mistake. I had a friend who was into acting, and I knew that was another way of making money that I hadn’t tapped into. My now-husband had friends who knew about Africa Magic auditions, so they told us about one happening. I didn’t go to an audition; I just wanted to see her off and observe the process until I found my ground and the confidence to walk into the audition room. I told my mom where I was going. I don’t know about others, but for my mother, by 3:30 pm, she must see you knocking on the door, and by 4 o’clock, you must be inside the house. So I told her I would be back by 4, and she said okay. The audition was in Maryland. When we got there, I saw over a thousand people, and I thought, “Is there a fire?” My friend said no, that’s the audition. They gave her the number 600. I said I couldn’t wait, but she said we should see how it goes, maybe they have a way to speed it up. I couldn’t enter with her since she was the one auditioning, so I kept her bag and waited outside under a canopy. By 3:30, I knew I was already in trouble. I turned off my phone because I didn’t want my mom to call me.

I tried to enter the audition space, but they said I couldn’t unless I was auditioning, so I wrote my name down thinking that by the time I got inside, my friend would probably be coming out.

I joined the line, which kept getting shorter, but my friend was nowhere to be found. Before I knew it, the girl before me opened the door, and my friend was coming out, and they were letting me in. I entered the audition room completely blank, I didn’t know what I had come to do. I will never forget that I saw Sanchez. He was right in front, with two other people. They asked, what do you have prepared for us? Do you have a monologue? I said, “Sir, what is a monologue?”

They asked again, do you want to act something? I said, I’ve never acted. They asked, “Then why are you here?” I did something, I don’t even remember what, but I knew it didn’t make sense.

I was not expecting to hear from them. I didn’t even want to see them again. I said thank you very much and left. I saw my friend outside and told her this was the end of our friendship because of the cane I thought I would receive because of her. I got home, and as usual, my mom yelled, and I explained what happened. A month later, I got a call from Africa Magic, and I thought they were trying to reach my friend. They said, no, you are the one we’re trying to reach, we have a role for you. I told my mom, “Hey, remember that audition I went for?” She said yes. She thought I was about to tell her I escorted my friend again. But I told her Africa Magic just called me and said they have a role for me. She thought it was a scam. “Are they kidnappers? Is there a number I can call?” She called them back, and they confirmed it was real. I went for it, thinking there would be another screening. Lo and behold, there was no screening. They just handed me my script. That’s how I got my first lead role. This was for Doll House in 2015.

Did your friend ever get into the industry?

She never did. Somewhere deep down inside of me, when I run into her, I kind of feel guilty, like I’m living her life.

Wura was a major career highlight for you, tell us about it.

I auditioned for _Wura_ seven times. It wasn’t the easiest audition. I got the general call for the audition and went. I walked into the space, and I saw veterans and already-established faces. In my mind, I was like, “I hope I didn’t come into the wrong space.”

That was the first time I was ever called for a closed audition. For us actors, closed auditions are the bigger type of auditions. I thought, “Okay, maybe it’s just a passing role. It can’t be that they want us all to read for the same role.” Then they handed me the script, and I saw a 47-year-old woman. This is me at 30. I looked at it like, “Definitely the wrong script. Let me just play along.” I asked the lady who handed me the script, “I’m sorry, I’m Scarlet. This role says the character is 47.” She said, “Yeah, that’s it.”

I started freaking out. “How in the world am I supposed to play a 47-year-old? This is me, a 30-year-old who has never given birth. I don’t even know what it means to have grown-up children.”

Then I went for the audition. I read my lines, and while I was reading, there was someone opposite the camera crying. That was the first time in my life I was getting a first-hand reaction. In my mind, I thought, “Maybe I’m doing something right or reading it the way they want me to.” So I just left it on the table.

While I was reading, Mr. Fred Amata walked in. He stayed for my audition. When I finished, they said,” Thank you very much, we’ll call you if anything.”

In my mind, as I was turning back, I told myself, “Baby, no. With all these faces I’m seeing here, it’s impossible.” As I was leaving, kind of dejected, Mr. Fred Amata ran out and came to me. He asked, “You were the one that just read?” I said, “Yes.”  He said, “Oh, I just want to shake your hand.” I was wondering what was going on. He said, “Just in case I never get the chance to. I know when I’m in front of greatness.”

I had goosebumps. I just burst into tears because this is someone I grew up watching all my life. If anybody should be doing anything, it should be me appreciating him, not the other way around. I took that as a word of confirmation from God that I had done the right thing. Then they called the second time, and I auditioned again. They cut us down. Third time, fourth time. The fifth time, they told me to come for a chemistry test with fellow actors. I went. Then the sixth time, I was expecting to get a call saying, “Oh, you’ve been given the role.” Instead, I got a call saying, “Sorry, after all the consideration we’ve had today, we’re not going to give you the role because you’re way younger than the character.”

In my mind, I thought, “Oh, so now you know that I’m younger than the character? The first time, second time, third time, fourth time, fifth time, you didn’t realise it?”

I was dejected. I remember locking myself in the bathroom and just crying. For me, I felt like this was a big platform. If this wasn’t it, then when was I ever going to get my big break?

I cried. My husband kept knocking on the door, telling me to come out so he could talk to me. But I refused. Eventually, I just moved on, focusing on my work and leaving it in the past, thinking, “It’s not meant to be.” Then one day, on set, I got a call from Mr. Rogers Ofime. He said, “Scarlet, where are you? What are you doing?” I said, “I’m on set.” He said, “Can you come for another audition for _Wura_ ?” I said, “Mr. Rogers, with all due respect, sir, I am not doing it.” I said, “I don’t want to. I don’t care if it’s the owner of Showmax himself, I’m not coming. What you didn’t see the first time, second time, third time, fourth time, fifth time, and sixth time, you’re not going to see the seventh time. Why am I coming?” He said, “Let’s just try and age you a bit with makeup and see.” I said, “Mr. Rogers, out of respect for you, I’ll come. But you are the only reason I’m coming.” So I went. I know for a fact that I didn’t do my best because I wasn’t even trying to. I just wanted to respect Mr. Rogers. I sat in the chair while they did my makeup, completely uninterested. “Just do what you have to do so I can leave,” I thought.

They gave me the script, and I asked, “Is this it? They said, “Yes, read.” I read it. “Is that all?” They said “Yes”, so I said “Thank you.” and I left. Only for them to call me back and say I got the role.

I thought, “Okay, maybe God was just trying to play some pranks on me.” Then I got on set. I remember freaking out to my husband. “How am I going to play this role? This character is nothing like I’ve ever played before. She’s deep. She’s 47. She has three grown-up children. Her last child is very close to my age. How am I supposed to do this?” And he said, “Don’t worry. We’ll work through it together. Maybe watch some films with similar characters or just talk to me about it. I’ll tell you what I feel about the character.” Day by day, I bounced it around with my husband, praying to God every day, “God, don’t let me mess up.” It was hard because we kept getting constant calls from the showrunners, saying, “Oh, you’re not poised enough,” or “You’re not this enough.” And as the titular character, the entire project was riding on my back. If I messed up, I messed it up for everyone. I didn’t know if this was their one chance at getting it right, too. There was a lot of pressure on me that people didn’t see. I would cry myself to sleep and cry myself awake. As _Wura_, I did therapy.

It wasn’t easy getting into the character because I was in the compound for a year. I barely stepped out of the compound, maybe twice. Once was to go to Lagos for my regular health check. The second was when I got nominated for AMVCA. Every day, I was on set. I wake up at 7:30 AM; I’m in the makeup chair. Sometimes we shoot until 4:30 AM the next morning, and by 7:30 AM, I was back in the makeup chair. It was gruesome. But it was all hands on deck. Everybody did what they had to do, and thank God, I’m here today. It was tough.

How would you describe the impact that Wura_ has had on your career?*

I’m not even going to lie, I thank God for how much and how far _Wura_ has brought me. Yes, it has been the biggest project I’ve ever been on, and it has opened doors that I didn’t even think were possible to open. You know, people take me more seriously now. My face is there, you cannot ignore me. If you do not see me on your TV, you will see me on the posters. If you don’t see me on the posters, you will hear my voice on the radio. So, I’ve come to stay, and you guys don’t have any way to push me out.

A lot of actors run away from TV series because of the length of time they take to produce. Are you ever going to take on a job like this again?

I don’t believe there is any role that you should not be able or willing to play. As an actor, you are a blank canvas. You are left to the artiste, that’s the director, the writers, or whoever, to paint whatever they want on you. And as a paper, you can’t say, “Oh no, don’t draw on me. I only accept red paint, or I only accept purple paint.” You accept all types of paint. I love challenges. The scarier it is, the more adrenaline I get, and I start asking myself, “Can I do this?” There are very few roles that make us, as actors, feel that way.

I remember a scene in _Wura_ where we had to shoot like six times. That was the scene where I killed Pa Olu Kuti. The river had granite under it, and I kept kneeling on granite, cutting my knees, and bleeding. We had to do take one, take two, take three… and then we finally got it right. My knee was bruised, and we went back on set. Then the next day, they told me, “Oh, the shot wasn’t nice. You have to go and shoot it again.” Imagine kneeling on a wound that has started healing and having to do it all over again.

But guess what? I enjoyed it! Those are the kinds of things I look forward to in my job, things that seem almost impossible. If it’s easy, then anybody can do it. What makes people look at a performance and go, “Oh my God, you did amazingly well,” is knowing that if they were put in that same situation, they probably wouldn’t be able to do it as well.

And I just pray those kinds of roles will come and find me. Because yes, I am sitting and waiting for new roles. I’m tired of playing the boyfriend-snatching girlfriend, the wicked housemaid, and all of that. I’m also tired of playing wicked roles, that’s another thing. I’ve started turning down scripts now because I’ve noticed that in Nigeria, once they see that you play a character well, they start to typecast you and keep bringing the same type of roles to you. I am capable of so much more.

You mentioned your husband a couple of times. Is your husband also entertainment-inclined?

My husband is a lot more than just Laycon’s manager. Currently, he’s not even Laycon’s manager anymore. He is an A&R, Music A&R. He practically handles everything sound-related, from music to film scores and all of that. So yes, he is in the entertainment industry. Honestly, it makes things easier for me being with him as a partner because I don’t have to explain a lot of things or try to make him see my world. If I tell him something, he already understands. So, I don’t have the issues that people who are married to non-entertainment individuals would have, which I think is a blessing as well. I think the greatest consideration for my choice was the fact that he was my number one supporter. Beyond my mom, he is the only other person I have ever come across in my life who is willing to support me no matter what I say I want to do. If I wake up tomorrow and tell my husband, “I’m tired of acting; I want to become a stripper,” he would ask me, “Does it make you happy?” If I said yes, he would probably be the one to go and buy me the heels. That’s the kind of person I’m married to. So yes, I think I’m fortunate, and I’m thankful for that.