Nigerian Movie Star Profile
Chinedu
/Osita
Until 2002 when they had a chance meeting during an
audition, neither Osita Iheme nor Chinedu Ikedieze knew he had
a lookalike who equally shared his acting career and small
physique.
The two short but matured comedians had gone
to a popular hotel in the heart of Enugu for audition only to
start glaring at each other in the presence of other artistes.
And like Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an
Author, the duo of Osita and Chinedu formed the centre of
attraction during the audition.
They in fact turned
into living characters for the directors present, even as a
smart producer shortly afterwards invented a script featuring
the two with a title, Aki na Ukwa (Two Mischievous Kinds). The
movie expectedly launched the two into the entertainment world
and ever since then, they continued to rise with an increasing
record of movies both locally and abroad.
Chinedu is a
graduate of Mass Communication from the Institute of
Management Technology (IMT), Enugu while Osita is currently a
second year student of Mass Communication at Enugu State
University. Although they have so much excelled in comedy,
these talented actors now crave for more challenging roles,
noting that mischief is not the only thing they dramatise:
Background
Chinedu (Aki)
I was born into the
family of Mr and Mrs. Michael Ikedieze Ogbonna. I hail from
Iluoma Nzeakoli in Bende local government area in Abia State.
After my primary and secondary education, I proceeded to IMT
Enugu where I studied Mass Communication.
Acting is a
talent that God deposited in me right from the cradle. For
example, during my secondary school days, I was a member of
the Art and Dramatic Society. My greatest opportunity came in
my first year (August, 1998) at IMT, where I met a friend whom
I told about my desire to become an actor and to discover more
about the Nigerian movie industry.
I told him about my
desire to be part of the industry and as God would have it,
our discussion coincided with an audition slated somewhere the
very next day. He promised to take me to the place and the
following day, we went to the venue of the audition at a
popular hotel on Ogui road in Enugu. The audition was for a
movie titled Evil Men, One and Two and luckily for me, I got a
role. That was exactly how I started and since then I have
been actively involved in it.
Role model
The first
time I watched Living in Bondage, I was so much inspired by
Kenneth Okonkwo’s true to life acting. Although his role
elicited so much hatred from members of the society, due to
the terrible things he did to Merit his wife, something in me
kept asking me, "how did this guy turn this make-believe to
something close to reality than fiction?" I was really
bothered for a long time and after a while, my admiration
became a source of challenge, which made me to enhance my own
acting skills. Other talented artistes who inspired me include
Nnenna Nwabueze (who hails from my town and who played the
role of Merit) and Andy
Okonkwo
Auditions
Immediately I joined the industry,
there were some artistes who paraded themselves as tin gods.
Going for an audition then was like writing Cambridge
examination. First we were asked many questions in the
presence of big stars and we were bound to feel very
intimidated.
And after going through the rigours, one
would be asked to call back in the evening or some other day
for the names of lucky actors. Oftentimes, one would get a
role in the crowd scene as a Waka-pass. This is all because
one wanted to get involved. I remember the first time I took
part in a movie, I went to town, telling all my friends to
watch out for the movie because they would see my face in it.
Sometimes too, while on location, one may have to
continue shooting and due to spill-over from previous shots,
you are told to go and come back later on another day. While
doing this, one was spending so much on transportation and
feeding, all for the meager artiste fee that would be
paid.
Breakthrough
I had my major break in 2000 with The
Last Burial. After the movie, I went to Port Harcourt and
people wanted to literarily steal me. This was before Aki Nu
Ukwa, which eventually brought me to limelight.
Osita
(Pawpaw)
I hail from Mbaitoli Local Government area of Imo
State.
My parents are Mr Herbert Iheme and Mrs Augustina
Iheme, I come from a family of five; four boys and a girl. I
attended College Primary School in Abia State. I am presently
studying Mass Communication at the Enugu State University. My
role model in Nigeria is RMD and on the international scene,
Al Pacino and Will Smith are my role models. I am working on
my musical album, which would soon be rounded off in the
studio. I am also into modeling and stage
performances.
The making of Aki Na Ukwa
(Aki)
Recently, Prince Emeka Ani told me how the story
came about and that he was supposed to have been the person to
have produced and directed the movie but somewhere along the
line, Amayo Uzor Phillips came in and convinced the Executive
Producer that he could use as little as N700,000 to do the
film and for that, Amayo got into it and I can recall that
from time to time, whenever I see Amayo, he used to tell me
that he had a story for me. He kept saying this to me until
the movie Aki-Na-Ukwa brought us together and it was a huge
success.
How we met
We met for the first time, about
three weeks before the shooting of Aki Na Ukwa and I believe
God ordained it. We met at Macdevous Hotels in Enugu a place
where actors usually go to for auditions and other
information. On the first day we set eyes on each other, it
was so dramatic that every other person in the Hotel left what
they came for and started looking at us. We felt the same way
too and I think it was during that first meeting that a smart
person thought about the concept that finally led to Aki Na
Ukwa.
Cheating
For anyone to succeed in life, the
person must make room for people to cheat on him here and
there. Each time we remember how much we were each paid for
Aki Na Ukwa, we felt cheated but we are also consoled by the
fact that it was the same movie that paved the way for the
success that we enjoy today
Advice to younger artistes
(Aki)
You have to be the best of what you are; what
makes a man is self-control. A man must be dedicated to
whatever he is doing, you must be ready to tolerate a lot of
things because without all these, you are heading to nowhere.
I remember those days, even as a student there were many times
I had to sneak out from lectures to go and attend auditions –
although I know exactly how to catch up with whatever I missed
while away.
Most often, when I was on campus, I usually
buried my head in the library and also read ahead of my mates,
knowing that there may be times that I would not have the time
to come for my lectures. Despite all these sacrifices on my
part, there were still many times that I will go out for
auditions and come back empty handed. But despite the above, I
did not give up, I persisted, I insisted on being part of
Nollywood, I insisted on living above the frustrations. So I
kept going from one audition to the other.
We are just
unique
People don’t make fun of us because you know, we are
just unique in our own way, we dress well, we are good looking
and we go the extra mile to take care of ourselves so anywhere
we go, people just want to be our friends. They come to us,
"Edu, Osy how far now?" And even the producers and directors
court us to their side. People jostle to have us come to their
rooms. We have not forgotten and will never forget how much
love we have received from such people.
Worth
We
cannot say that we are rich but we can confidently tell you
that we are comfortable.
New York Academy
We wanted to
make a successful switch over. Here in Nigeria, producers and
marketers were complaining that our films are too many in the
market and that people are complaining (although this is a way
of bargaining) we do not want to be caught napping. So we took
out time to go NYFA to prepare ourselves for a possible switch
over to Hollywood. Why did we go to school if we cannot
prepare ourselves for any unforeseeable circumstances. We
resolved that we are not going to end up like other stars in
the past that were used and dumped. So when our manager
suggested that we should go to NYFA for a crash programme in
acting, we accepted it. We are too mature to be tossed around
so we decided to prepare for the rainy day even though our sun
is shining right now.
Two sides of a coin
There is
no way you can know a person by the appearance of the face.
People are wicked, and the devil you hear of everyday, don’t
be deceived, is a human being. We know that a lot of people
have made moves to see how they can come into our midst and
tear our friendship apart. They wish they can create enmity
between us, but we believe that when God says yes, nobody can
say no, because our coming together was destined by God and
God made it at the appointed time.
Aki: If this stardom
had come when I was a student, it would have retarded my
academic progress. But God in his infinite wisdom made it all
to happen at His own appointed time and again the day I met
Osita, I was already considering leaving the country, so God
made everything to be possible at his own chosen
time.
Ukwa: Although I am still in school but by the grace
of God, I am coping.
How old
We are in our 20s,
let’s leave it like that.
How producers arrested
us
In 2003, we were arrested by some producers at 1.00 a.m
and detained at a Police Station here in Enugu till the
following morning.
What led to the whole problem was very
simple. Producers would come to us with an offer and when we
tell them that we already have jobs at hand, they would say
that they wouldn’t mind to wait until we were free. So they
made some advance payment as a kind of commitment fee. It was
not that we refused to do the jobs. No, but in between the
jobs, we had a show that was to take place intermittently for
about five days in Ghana and you know the Ghanaians to an
extent are more organised than us. We have been paid six
months in advance before the show and we have signed all
relevant contractual agreements.
So, when some of them
heard that we were travelling to Ghana, they teamed up to
embarrass us. We pleaded with them that we are Nigerians; and
that we were not running away. We were only going out for a
few days. We also told them that when we return, we would do
their jobs. These were the same people that begged us to take
their deposit and that they would wait till it was their turn
on our schedule. Before we traveled, we lost count of days and
even the months. It just dawned on us one day and we asked,
‘is this September?’ And they said yes and I exclaimed, ‘God,
we have a show in Ghana!’ So we called them and told them that
‘please, we were going to Ghana for a few days; when we
return, we shall finish your movies.’ To our shock, they
gathered themselves and accused us of trying to run
away.
They took us to the Police Station and at the end of
the day, we spent the entire night at the station, they made
us part with N900,000 as compensation. They insisted that
their films have stayed for too long in our hands. They also
claimed that the show we were going to in Ghana was going to
fetch us N13million and for that they said we should pay them
N3 million as compensation. It was our lawyer that negotiated
for N900,000.
On arrival, we did their job and there
was none of them that paid us more than N300,000. If it were
not because of the legal implications of our not going to
Ghana, we would have insisted on not paying that money. It was
a clear rip off. The films were Village Boys and Husband
Wahala for Vaseco and Maurry’s Not by Height ‘1 and 2’.
Solid’s movie was Big Daddy 1 and 2’ despite the fact that we
did not sign for parts one and two in our contract agreement.
A – Z’s own was Shine Your Eyes. It was strange that when they
heard that we were going to Ghana, they all teamed up to see
if they could stop us from going there. All these are now
stories but we can never forget it because it keeps piercing
our hearts. Although they did not ban us, you see sometimes
they do all sorts of things and nobody is there to ban them or
even caution them. They see themselves as the Alpha and Omega
of the industry but it should not be so. We are all supposed
to work like a team.
Nigerian marketers
You can
imagine producers banning an artiste because according to them
the artiste demanded for certain privileges when on location
and that they don’t come for recording on time. I know that we
are not Hollywood actors but for Christ sake, we are the very
best in Africa and it is appalling that our marketers don’t
value us. In South Africa and Europe, we are superstars.
Outside Nigeria, some ladies do flung their breasts and beg us
to sign autograph on them! When we went to Ghana, there were
so many beautiful ladies carrying banners at the airport to
welcome us; old men and women, children and top government
functionaries. They all trooped out to welcome us. The same
thing happened in Sierra Leone and USA (Virginia, where I went
to spend time with my uncle after my studies).
If we are
paid about $8,000 here for a movie, it is really nothing. As
far as we are concerned, what we receive in Nigeria as actors
is among the poorest in the world, although we are not
complaining. You see, when we go for shows outside this
country, they pay us up between $20,000 and $30,000 for only
some few minutes on stage or for a product endorsement. I
mean, there is no way you can compare this with the peanuts we
receive as Nollywood actors. We know that the Nigerian
producers made us but it is better we all see it from the
point of yam and oil. We made each other; it is a vice versa
achievement.
Greatest regret
(Aki) I think that was
when I lost my grand mother and another time was when some
producers arrested us. The incident was so painful. Imagine
the humiliation, taking us to the police and detaining us
there.
Marriage
(Aki) I am not married. Although I
am in a serious relationship, I am not yet married. My
marriage is only in the figment of a junk journalist’s
imagination. They just want to write and sell their magazines.
I have enough money to marry whenever I wish to and there is
no way I would get married without letting the whole world
know.
Tel:571-247-2679 email:contact@nigeriamovies.net
