Ogun State-born Nollywood actress, Omowunmi Dada, has proven her acting prowess through her craft. The Theatre Arts graduate from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) has featured in numerous movies, soaps and stage plays. In this interview by SEYI SOKOYA, she speaks about life, career and other issues. Excerpts:
How has your first AMVCA win as the Best Supporting actress influenced your career?
Honestly, I did not see this coming at all, considering the other beautiful contenders in that category. This victory is just an indication that one day; your talent will pay off. I have learnt never to give up even though there were moments I felt like what is the essence of coming out as best graduating student in my class? My best is yet to come and the industry had better look out for more promising jobs from me. It is a welcome development and I am not taking this for granted. The award has added a feather to my cap and I believe this will go a long way.
You are a lover of traditional movies, how much of this do you think projects Nigeria’s image, knowing that globally our image is not properly represented?
One day at a time, every step is important in renewing the image of the Nigerian people. We have our arts to do this. I feel like art and culture, film or music is a ministry for human emancipation, for telling stories and for changing the narrative. We are doing it one day at a time and we will get better. I just feel that most importantly, it starts with you and I being focused about the things that we do daily.
How did you discover your passion for acting?
I have always been passionate about the art. I have always said that it’s not just about talent for me, it’s a ministry. I’m very passionate about the kind of scripts that I take on, the kind of stories that I’m part of. I turn down a lot of scripts but the truth is when you don’t know where you are going to, everywhere will look like the way, but when you know where you are going to, from the beginning of your career, you channel your path and you are very mindful about it. Sometimes, it looks like, ‘what are you doing’, but if you have a bigger picture in mind, you will definitely get there. Nothing good comes easy.
What factor would make you reject a script?
If I don’t believe in the story, if I don’t like the script itself and don’t believe in what it is preaching, I will turn it down. This is not a shade to any producer or director but I know that day by day, we are getting better and telling better stories.
What of financial wise?
It’s talent, career, passion but it’s also a profession. You also have to make money out of it. If the money is not good, but I believe in the story, I will take it because sometimes money is not everything. Leaving your name in the good sands of time is more important.
As leading brand, what do you stand for in the industry?
I stand strongly for professionalism, quality, discipline, integrity and consistency because at every particular time; keep working as nobody wants to work with a lazy actor.
Is nudity a no go area for you?
It depends on how the nudity is being created. You can create nudity in a very creative way and it will be tastefully done; also what is the essence of that nudity? Again it’s not just like I want to show my body for example, you want to act a rape victim scene, there is no way that it would be played and dress won’t be ripped. Well, it’s really not bad to be naked.
What is your advice for the younger ones?
Do not ever forget what you are made of, life would be hard but you have to find inner strength to go on. Everything you need to make it in life is in you and God’s hands; it’s been deposited by God. It’s okay to be you but know one thing that you are destined to be great and you will be great and nothing anybody will do or say that will drag you back and I will just whisper to her that, Omowunmi Dada just know that you are a star and you are going to change the world.
Do you think it’s hard work that paved the way for you this far?
This I always say that whatever you do, always give it your best because sometimes ,it only takes one scene for someone to notice your good job for referral in projects you can never imagine in your life. Your success is in the hands of God and you.
How will you describe your days of going for auditions?
I can’t rule that out of my life anyway because that is also part of the build up for me. You can’t become a star in a day; I enjoy the process as it makes me more professional and diligent as this will further motivate me to always give my best at every point in time.
Which movie will you say shot you into limelight?
Well for me, the first time I was on TV was as a presenter in a Nigeria Reality show for kids in 2008 but my first movie was an epic movie, entitled ‘ Oya’. I have featured in countless movies and soaps but the truth is so many people are yet to know me and that’s why I need to constantly give my best to all I in case anyone stumbles on me and like who is this person but sincerely I can’t pick on one exactly. But for every job I have done, I feel so honoured to do them all.
Which are you more comfortable doing, TV presenting or acting?
For me, I am an all round actress; I can do any of the two perfectly.
There is this belief that those who study Theatre Arts are better role interpreters than the those who just happened into acting?
Either of the two, one thing is sure constant, which is training because whatever thing you have to do as an actor; you can’t run away from training because you can’t just wake up and jump into what you are not trained for. In every profession, there is talent and sure you have to be well-trained before the job can be well done. We have a lot of people who did Theater Arts in school and are now in banking hall doing well. For someone like me, my passion is key. If am at home and ‘am not working or not on set, I won’t be happy within me.
Don’t you think marriage can stop you from acting?
No. Not even marriage can stop me from acting because I want to be old with all my grey hair acting because this is what I am born to do. It gives 100 per cent fulfillment.
As an actor, which will you consider the most challenging role you have ever played?
I will say when I acted in the movie, entitled, ‘Moremi’, where I played the role of a boxer. For me to be able to deliver on the role; I had to go train as boxer for two months. I equally just rounded off on a project with Ebonylife; there also I had to go all the way out to do research on the role and when we had the private screening sometimes ago and I saw a lot people crying, I was so happy about what I did for myself with the role I played. For me as a brand, I don’t run away from challenges and hard work.
In the cause of building you acting brand; what are some of the challenges you encountered?
The first challenge that I had as an actress was my stature. When I attended auditions back then, people usually told me, ‘‘Oh you are very good and quite talented but unfortunately, you are small in stature.’’ I used to be very skinny and I am still not big now so, my small stature posed a challenge. Even the colour of my skin was another major challenge. Sometimes, people would tell me that I am dark-skinned and they want a light-skinned person for a particular role but I am very happy that right now, filmmakers now look past the complexion of actors and the focus is now on talents and what you can bring to the table. It’s now about what you’ve got inside of you, your level of discipline and your craft. Those were some of the things I had to deal with and I surmounted them. Of course, I love challenges and I love playing characters that enable me to be able to task myself. I don’t like to feature in movies with drab characters. The farther I am from a character, the more excited I am to conquer challenges.
What dream role do you look forward acting?
There are lots of dream roles but the most important for me at the moment is getting an action role call in a Hollywood movie.
How will you define your style?
I would say comfortable, classy and edgy.
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