Nkem Owoh, famously called Osuofia, is one of the top Nollywood comic actors. He has been described by many as one of the highest paid actors in the industry. In this no-holds-barred interview with MERCY MICHAEL, the actor cum producer speaks on stardom, challenges, marriage and more.
HOW do you always handle the crowd that follows you whenever you appear in the public?
It’s not something that started today. So, I am used to such encomiums and such crowds. But I’m this sort of person who doesn’t like a crowd around him when I am doing my private business. When I am doing the crowd thing, then, I can come and entertain the crowd. But honestly, I still feel so shy when I am in the crowd. At times, because of the management of my stardom, I hold myself back from betraying emotions. This is because at times, they do certain things as if we are not human too.
As one of the biggest in comedy movies, how does it really feel?
It feels somehow, if you agree or if a realisation comes to you that you are the biggest. I feel just like you, so you find out that that psychology will not put pressure on me. My own reaction to the public perception is diagonal. From the professor to the labourer, from the general to the cook, from the highest in the religious body to the lowest, I relate to everybody the same way.
People acclaim you for what they think you are. But I just see myself as that actor. It is when the crowds begin to come that I begin to look for security. I now begin to go out with some of these policemen. Not because it affects me psychologically, but because of my physical security. I don’t have much; I am not endowed so much with ‘meat’ in my body, so any little person can just fling me off. So, I take care of myself by getting some security.
What took you out of Lagos?
I was in Lagos for 20 years. What started bringing me down to the east was, if I need something that has a Calabar touch, I will come down to Calabar and shoot it. If I need something that has an Igbo touch, I will come to the east and shoot it. But when you try to create Calabar or Efiv in Lagos, to me, it’s Jollof, adulterated and inorganic. But I want those organic ones. I have fought some little wars in the cause of our production; but now, I feel very comfortable.
What kind of person is Nkem Owoh outside the Osuofia we know on TV?
I’m just like every other person. I’m somebody who likes to learn from everybody. I like to learn from the smallest and I like to learn from the biggest. If you come to the production ground, I am more in tune with the PAs than with the bourgeois in the industry. It’s not as if I do not have my closeness or things that bring us together, but I feel freer talking to people who are free. If I cannot come to you and talk to you freely, then you are in prison and I am not. If they need a very long protocol to talk to you, you are in prison. I like to talk to people who are free.
Having come this far, what sort of challenges do you face?
I have (and still am) facing a lot of challenges. Well, there are two challenges now: challenges as an individual and challenges of the industry. As an individual, the challenges people place on you and the length of stardom are always greater than the length of your purse in our own case. People think because you are Osuofia in London, you must be stinking rich and they over-assess you. That’s why at times, they feel so surprised when you begin to commune with the ‘raw sticks’. It is not as if your name is commensurate to your bank account; it doesn’t work like that. I appreciate the fact that my name has a lot in its account than my bank account because this one can open doors and influence minds. Yes, you need money to get things going and all of that, but the name can do a lot more.
Stardom too has it challenges. Now, personally, because I act comedy, everybody thinks I am what I act on television. If you are moving around, you will see some people would say, ‘Hey! Osuofia, come, let me give you a drink.’ Probably you are acting a poor man and you are drunk, they assume you are like that. They now say come and drink. If you look at the person, if you want to manage your stardom properly, you don’t rebuff the person and you don’t embrace the person, you just politely walk away. Again, should I talk about my phone? It’s another thing. My phone is supposed to be a very big advert to me, but it’s turning into a nuisance.
You know, I can’t rest, I can’t eat and I can’t drink because everybody wants you to make them light. But nobody is asking whether this guy is happy or not. That is it. You will be in themiddle of a fracas probably with your workers or in your family and somebody, a small boy, will just come and say, ‘Make me happy.’ Or all these apprentices in the market place would say, “Osuofia, there is bad market o; please, put us on a lighter mood.” If you cannot manage it, you will explode and politely for those people who say, ‘Come, come and greet me,’ you politely wave and continue. I tell my friends that I don’t answer calls. I rarely answer calls. But if you write me a message, I can call you back, if I see the subject of your message.
You are reported to earn over N2m per movie. So, naturally, it is expected that you are a millionaire, especially because you appear in almost every comedy movie.
What is N2m? Why I say N2m is nothing is, when people hear that you are rich, everybody from the village (if you are somebody who goes close to your home people, the church where you attend) will be tugging at your sleeves and you find out that that N2m will not last one week. But if there is no this hullabaloo about your purse, there are certain things people will not come to you for. But once they hear that amount, they over-assess you, so they come. That’s why I say N2m is small. In fact, I need a house full of money to solve my problems.
I have some people under my scholarship and it is because of all these things. They say you have this kind of money, but you are not training anybody. So, you have to. I have people on scholarship. But instead of having international foundation, I decided to have foundation for my own people. If you go to my village and ask them, they will tell you. I started from my people. Those people on my scholarship are not mainly my brothers.
Do you have a foundation?
I don’t have a foundation because I find out that running a foundation, at times, is playing to the gallery. You have a foundation and you write to some foreign countries to support you. I don’t want to exhibit it. What I do, I do with my personal funds. Scandal will begin to come in when you go and borrow money to do these things. Instead of borrowing money to do that, then I would rather do the ones I can do with my money.
Aside acting, what else do you?
I used to have a school. I decided to close it because my workers started playing games. I have a movie studio; I have camera chains that shoot both our movies and those they use in weddings, though the branch is in Enugu. Besides, I have video clubs.
Have you produced your own movie?
I’ve been producing and I’ve been marketing my films. My production outfit is called NONKS Production. Even if you look at some of the films or television programmes, you will see post production by NONKS Studio. I don’t have to come out and begin to use microphone to shout about it. It’s my company. Once I am reaping from it, my own name is enough. It is getting too much for me too.
How do you cope with female advances?
I cope very, very well.
How do you go about it?
Well, it depends on the angle you are coming from. If you don’t understand women, you won’t cope with them. If you think women are chattels and they should come to you because you are a star, you can’t cope with them. You have to understand a woman is a human being like you. If I want to talk to a person I appreciate, I will talk to you as if I’m nothing. I don’t like to see myself as a ‘big star’. That is why I cope so well. If you relate to someone on an individual basis, they know. But if you come to impose yourself on me, I get afraid. I’m sorry, but that’s me. Because of security, I used to have male PAs. But now, I’ve laced them with female PAs.
By having female PAs, is it a strategy to rebuff those who try to impose themselves on you?
No, my strategy is just by being polite, by trying to draw a line. Because I am a star and women are coming, I have to allow them to come? You will kill yourself. In any case, I became a man before I became a star. There are people who hit stardom at a very young age. So, they get confused because they are not mature to manage that stardom. I tell you, to manage stardom is harder than being a star.
Do you have any regrets?
No, if I come at another time and the opportunity presents itself to be an actor, I will jump at it. Yes, I will, if it is like this.
Was there something else you wanted to do before acting came along?
I read electrical engineering, but I am not practising it. The only tango I had with engineering was when I worked with one company, Waco Engineering. Even before I entered school, acting had been tugging at the sleeve of my mind.
So, why did you study engineering?
When did acting explode? I had already finished studying what I wanted to study. You find out that when people think that you are an average student and you want to impress your parents, you have to study those things that are big. I was good at sciences, so I went for engineering and I was taking the accolades for studying engineering. But what is feeding me today is not engineering. I’m an engineer by certificate, but I am a show businessman by profession.
Are your kids taking after you in acting?
Yes, I have seen the pigments in some of them, but I don’t want to pressure my kids. The only thing I try to do is to encourage them. In fact, one of my daughters is very good at singing. I used to sing. It runs in my family. What I did was to buy her a recorder; so, each time the inspiration comes like that, I gave her the recorder to record whatever comes to her at that time.
So, you have a musician in the making?
I don’t have a musician in the making. I am only encouraging her. But if she wants to be a musician, fine!
You also had a stint with music. What happened?
The marriage among the branches of arts is so strong and you can’t do one without the other. In Hollywood, you see those who sing act. An Indian film is just all about acting and singing. Some of the big time musicians we know in the U.S. are actors. Some of the actors play music. So, these things are interrelated. I don’t think I am going outside the box if I go into music. I will just have to pick one and do the other one as an associate.
You are one of the busiest in the industry. Do you have time for family?
When you have such a thing, it’s just like you in your office. In my office, I travel a lot, but I try to have an understanding with my workers, my manager and my accountant. So also if you appeal to your wife and she appreciates that this is the place where the pocket bulges, I don’t think she will lose her cool. But you don’t have to overdo it. What I do is that I let my children and my wife to understand what I am doing. I tell them that if I don’t do what I am doing, I will not make this money. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon. So, it is a question of understanding. The only thing that causes trouble is if your wife or your family wants to query you that you are not always around and you begin to hala. But when you put them in the picture, they will understand.
Does your wife sometimes feel insecure because of your stardom and women getting attracted to you?
Those who are not stars are even worse. Those who are not stars are bigger risks to their wives. If you are a star, anything I do here now is news. But somebody who is not known can come, perpetrate any kind of atrocity here and go out without anybody noticing. So, you have to be cautious of that. Whatever you do, there are eyes watching you.
