In a few months, delectable TV soap actress Caroline King will clock 50 years. The Edge of Paradise star, among other series, is a strong personality on and off the screen. In this interview with MERCY MICHAEL, the mother of three opened up on why she’s been scarce in movies. She also talked about her love for soaps and stage.
WHY is it that you don’t act Nollywood movies? …I don’t? No, I do. I’ve just done one now (laughs).
I am sure it must be your first?
It isn’t (laughs). The first movie I did was actually a Yoruba movie titled Pasitor Dehinde. It was produced and directed by Bimbo Manuel. I also did another one called Wrongful Passion. It was an OJ Productions. And then this one titled The Gods Are Still Not To Blame, produced by Funke Fayoyin.
As a consummate actress, how do you explain your presence on mainly soaps when your fans expect to see you on TV, screen and stage?
When people ask me this, I always tell them, it wasn’t intentional but as time went on I now discovered that I actually did like soaps more. The reason is because you can grow your character, do you understand? In movies, the production team might say we are going to do this one month and we are done with it and that’s bye bye to the character. But with soap, a soap can span ten years.
She can start a soap (pointing to her daughter Desola) and watch her grow. All the things that happen to her, you will get to watch. I believe it a beautiful play ground for an actor because you can do anything and everything to yourself, if you have a good writer who helps all the different characters to go through a period of growth. That is why I love soaps but I can function in any of the three media.
You were talking about being immersed in a character. Can you give us an instance?
That happens to me more when I do stage. The character you are playing more or less takes over your life. And you know with stage it’s intense rehearsals. It could be for like three months that you are rehearsing just for one stage performance. And for that period of time you live and breathe that character. You are sleeping you are remembering your lines. And then after performances it takes me quite a while to shake it off.
Can you tell us your last stage experience?
Yes, it was An Ordinary Legacy. It was a play written by Safiatta. It was last year October, November. And Norbert Young played my husband. It was fantastic. It was quite wordy. And the writer, when she writes her character can talk for like a page and half and you have to put all those words on your head. I played an elderly woman. I played a 60-something-year-old woman.
How did it feel to be 60-something?
It felt good. I mean, we are all going to age. It’s how you age that matters. I’ve decided I will age gracefully, no matter what. I will be fifty by July; can you beat that? And funnily, I don’t use anything special but one thing I indulge myself in, I love to workout. I work out a lot and eat anything. I love food. If I don’t work out and I eat as I do, they will join these two chairs for me (laughs).
You look quite beautiful for a 50-year-old. Tell us your beauty regime.
And as per beauty regime, I love massage. I have a lady who comes to the house once in a while to give me a massage. Another thing could be my genetics is good. Both of my parents aged well.
Back to acting, can you share with us the chemistry that exists between you and Norbert Young?
Ahhh, Norbert is my very good friend. I met Norbert many, many years back when we did radio dramas, voiceovers. So we’ve been friends for long even before he got married to Glory. And Glory too we all worked together on radio and all that. We were just lucky that the producer and director paired us together on a TV soap. And it’s good because I was with my friend and I was relaxed and he was with his friend too and he was relaxed. Till tomorrow everybody who saw Edge of Paradise always say to me “how’s your husband?” And I will be like let “Glory catch you”.
You two have become an item of some sort. How do you deal with that part of fans harassing you about him?
Hahahahaha, it’s funny. And even when we did An Ordinary Legacy, it was fun. We will be at rehearsals and we’ll be joking. He’s a big joker. We’ll be teasing each other, laughing, beating each other. Everybody will be like wow! No wonder Edge of Paradise was so fantastic. You guys are great friends.
Before you two were paired, it was Norbert and Ronnie Diko. Getting to fit in just like those two, was it a challenge for you?
It wasn’t a challenge. It was two different soaps. They were on Family Circle while we were on Edge of Paradise. They had finished with Family Circle, some years later Edge of Paradise started. Funny enough I never really thought about it at all. You really think people thought about that. People still ask after him from me as in wanting to know if we’re really, really married. And I would be like; no o we are not married o. It’s usually a surprise to many. “You two were so believable”, that’s what I always get at the end of the day. But I’m glad people actually thought we were married. It means we did our job well.
But did your husband not have a problem with that kind of chemistry you shared with Norbert?
The thing is people forget that when we are shooting there are so many people around. And me as an actor I’m struggling to make sure I remember all my lines. I’m struggling to be in character. As we are talking now, they can just say that director is ready, come. And probably my role is a sad moment, as I’m working towards the set, I’m already constructing myself, trying to get my face to reflect that of a sad person, so whether somebody is grabbing my breast at that point, I won’t even know. But the beauty of it all is the fact that we can do it and people can look at it and say they are married. That means we did our job well. It was nice. I like working with Norbert because he is great fun. If he’s here now all of us will be laughing. He cracks jokes. He’s a beautiful actor and that was why they paired us up on An Ordinary Legacy as well. It was fantastic.
Is he also part of the cast of this movie The Gods Are Still Not Yet to Blame? And did they pair you up?
Oh yes, he is. But he played Glory’s husband. He and his wife played husband and wife.
Then again talking about movies, could it be that the scripts have not been coming your way?
They come but I reject them because I want to break the mode. It’s like they’ve built this mummy box and then they carry Caroline King and put her inside, so before they covered it and sealed it with a celotape, I jumped out. I had to because I want viewers to see me in different characters. And that’s why when I went into stage, I took like two years just doing different characters. And as an actor, that’s the joy of the job you are doing. Not when every time you pick up a script, you see nice mother, have three children, have four children. It was now getting boring. So when the scripts come and I want to make my choice and the producers say they already have someone for that role I just let it go.
Do you understand? It’s not that they are not coming but they are not challenging enough for me to do them. And If I’m not enjoying it when I’m doing it, it’s no point because I’m not doing it just for the money. I have to enjoy the role when I’m doing it. Like I told someone, if I’m reading a script, by the time I read from 1 to 10 and I don’t feel anything I don’t bother reading it to the end. So basically I’ve been trying to break the modes and show producers and directors out there that I’m not just a mummy character. I can play all kinds of characters given the chance.
Playing a sexy mother, how challenging was it?
Challenging? I won’t use the word challenging. I would say for me it was more of how do I make this believable enough without compromising myself, without given off these negative vibes to people who are watching, without abusing people’s sensibility? That was more of my worry. It wasn’t the role. But it was God’s gift to me that I was working with a director like Funke because she also was on the same page with me.
She was of that kind of mind. Like you know, when two lovers newly meet they get up to no good, especially an older woman and a younger guy, but she and the DOP, they were able to work round it. When you see us kissing, we weren’t actually doing the tonguing thing but it looks like we are doing it. It was beautifully and artistically done and the message was sent. You can see that this people are intimate but we are not intimate in soft porn-like way.
But if it turns out to be perceived that way, what will you do?
It’s a plus for me and it’s a plus for the director. I always keep giving an example of South Korean movies. I’m into them. They show you intimacy but you don’t see them touching and grabbing or anything. Just the way they look into each other’s eyes you can see that mehn these people are intimate. When they pass, their shoulders rub against each other, you will feel it. That is movie-making; not when you grab my throat, kiss me, knack me gbagagbaga on the wall. That’s rubbish. Like I said, I was joyous I found a director who was on the same page with me, who was happy to shoot a movie that will not abuse people’s sensibility and at the same time not reduce the potency of the story.
If you do have a dream role, what will it be?
Ahhh, I have done a very old woman; Ajayi Crowther’s mom and I made the audience cry. In this play they aged me. For grown men to be crying means I did my job. I will love to play a wicked woman role.
Is she your daughter? Is she a half-caste?
Quarter actually.
How do you feel when you are asked the question?
I’m used to it now. I remember when she was still I baby. I travelled with her abroad, everywhere the question was the same: “Is she your daughter?”
Is her father white?
Her father is half but she was a throwback (laughs). Her brother looks proper quarter but she looks more half. Her father is a Lagosian but his mom is British.
How did acting start for you? Did you study Theatre Arts?
I didn’t. I studied Christian Religious Study.
It wasn’t a course most young people like to study…
My father wanted me to read Law. Upon filling my Jamb form I filled Law but I ended up getting Sociology. During registration, they said I didn’t have one subject. I can’t remember what it was they said I didn’t have, so I was dumped in CRS. I was to do that for one year and by the time I was going to year two they would work something out and I would now enter Law department. But it never happened, so I graduated with CRS.
Is your husband also in the arts?
He is not in the arts, he’s a pilot.
So what was the attraction?
He’s a fine man (laughs). He’s always been there for me. He’s a very good man in the real sense of the word. He’s a very good person.
How long have you been married?
22 years
How did you handle advances from men, especially when you were starting off?
Funny enough I’ve been blessed so far that I don’t get such advances and stuffs like that. If you don’t have talent, how many producers do you want to sleep with? won ma fa di e ya last last ni (they will tear you apart in the long run). If you believe in yourself and you have talent, producer will look for you when they can’t find someone to do it right like you can do it. But really I think it’s because we are in the face of everybody. What of our women bankers who are MDs of banks? Who did they sleep with to get there?
If you believe in yourself, you believe in your dream, you believe in your capability and ability to do anything you do, you can call anybody’s bluff. And like I said, I’ve been lucky nobody has made such advances at me. o ju mi ma nle gan (I always present a hard countenance). And for the young stars, I know some that I have worked with and that are talented and are not compromised. And they are doing well. The ones who go and compromise themselves do so because they don’t believe in themselves.
You must have experienced it, even if it was just once?
Let me give you an instance. I went to a studio, I had a reading to do there. There were trying to pair me with somebody for a role, so I went and then at the gate you would fill their attendance register. When I finished, I left. Only last Sunday, my phone rang and I picked the call. The fellow on the other end then said ‘my name is Samuel.’ I saw you at something something studio.
I like you and I want to know you more. And I was like ‘who gave you my number?’ I then asked him to hold on for my PA. I gave my husband the phone. Immediately my husband said hello he dropped the call. I then went back to the studio. I was very upset and I was asking questions and they then told me it wasn’t from them, that the person must have picked it from the attendance register. So it happens but it’s how you handle it that matters. Emi, mo ti de last busstop temi ko si nkon ti mo wa kiri (I am at my last busstop, so I’m not looking for what is not there).
