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Today, she prides herself as being abreast
with the rudiments of acting, which is borne
out of a formal training in the Creative
Arts Department of the University of Lagos,
where she is presently in her final year.
Even though she has been in countless movies
since 1999, she was quick to tell us that
"the movie that launched me into the
limelight was Elastic Limits by Teco
Benson."
Asked what the movie was all about, she,
with a seductive smile on her face and
dimples in her cheeks, said:
"Liz Benson was in it, likewise Kanayo O .Kanayo,.
It has to do with a married man who was
having an extra marital affair. He got to
have children outside his legal marriage too
and the children ended up in the same
school.
"Initially, the children didn’t know they
were related even though they had the same
surname. Eventually, they met again at the
university, got talking, and then realised
they were actually from the same father.
"That movie threw me up as a good actress to
watch out for and I am happy I have not
disappointed ever since. Of course, I have
improved over the years, because of learning
on the job and the fact that I have returned
to school to formally learn the nitty gritty
of acting. Today, I’m in my final year at
the Creative Arts Department of the
University of Lagos."
That notwithstanding, the former student of
Stadium High School, Iyun Road, Surulere,
contended that her most memorable moment in
her eight-year acting career was on the set
of the film adaptation of Elechi Amadi’s
novel, The Concubine. " I have always looked
forward to doing a project like this one,
not a movie that would disappear from the
shelves after sometime. The Concubine
afforded me many opportunities. It is the
kind of work that one will always be proud
of; of course you know the novel it was
adapted from is a classic literary text,"
she said.
Meanwhile, Grace, who also featured in the
adaptation into motion picture of Festus
Iyayi’s Violence – laughed when we requested
to know if she could poke her tongue deep
into a fellow actor’s mouth on set. But when
we pressed further she quipped "If need be I
will act it but deep kiss, never!"
Of her Afro Hollywood award, "I feel very
excited! What I’ve been longing for, I have
finally gotten it. I can tell you it
portends everything good, everything nice.
"However, I see it as a call on me to
improve my act. It is supposed to add more
to whatever work that I’ve done that has
given me the award. It will definitely spur
me on to do more," she stressed.
When asked about her heartbreak history, she
quipped, "I don’t know if actresses break
people’s hearts; I have never broken any
guy’s heart and no guy has ever broken my
heart."
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The
alumnus
of Yaba
Model
Primary
School,
Ojuelegba,
Lagos
has no
doubt
done
good for
herself
as an
actress
and she
confirmed
this
during
an
interview
when she
stated
that "a
lot has
changed
about me
since I
joined
the
movie
industry
in
August
1999."
Even
though
acting
has
brought
her fame
and the
promise
of
fortune;
her
initial
dream
was to
study
law and
make a
name for
herself
in the
profession.
In
pursuit
of that
dream,
the
native
of
Ebunwana-Etta,
Ebonyi
State
got
admission
to study
same at
the
University
of
Ibadan,
Ibadan,
Oyo
State in
2002.
But by
then,
the seed
that her
flair
for
acting
sowed in
her had
begun to
germinate.
"I got
into the
University
of
Ibadan
in 2002
to study
law;
before
then I
had
acted in
Chain
Reaction
in
August,
1999.
But I
found
out that
I wasn’t
finding
it easy
– not
with the
course –
but the
distance
and
having
to
shuttle
between
school
in
Ibadan
and
movie
locations,
which
were
mostly
in
Lagos. I
think I
was just
putting
my life
at risk
on the
Lagos-Ibadan
expressway
because
I was
always
on the
road,"
said the
young,
gifted
act who
told us
she was
born and
brought
up in
Lagos.
Grace,
is one
among a
few
actors
who,
after
establishing
themselves
in the
country’s
movie
industry,
decided
to
complement
their
thespian
talents
with a
formal
training
in
acting. |
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