My journey from acting to tech, overcoming depression —Bukky Wright

Veteran Nollywood actor Bukky Wright is fully back to Nollywood after over a decade in the United States (US) and is not holding back on her struggles away from home and what to expect from her in the future.

In a recent interview on the TejuBabyface Show, the actor discussed relocating to the US, pursuing a Master’s Degree, becoming an Information Security Expert, battling depression, and returning to the film industry she left more than 15 years ago.

“I am a kind of person that would always challenge myself. When I was relocating, I told myself that I was not going to do any menial jobs. I am going to go back to school and I’m going to be at the top and that was exactly what I did,” she said.

“I went back to school, did my Master’s first. Then, I started writing for some certifications. When I was going to write my CISA [Certified Information Systems Auditor] exam, I was so scared I didn’t tell anyone. I just took myself to the venue and lo and behold, I’m a CISA now.”

On why she left everything behind in Nigeria to start a new career and pursue cybersecurity certifications, Wright stated that she loves to challenge herself.

“I love challenges and my being challenged also challenges my children as well because they are like, ‘If iya can do this, then I can do it’. I remember writing my PMP [Project Management Professional] exam on a Christmas Day at my son’s house. I had to wake up around 4am to write the exam and my then 26-year-old son asked, ‘You are really doing this?’ I answered, ‘Yes, I’m really doing this’,” the actor said.

Wright, who left Nigeria in 2008, also noted that she left Nigeria for the US to guarantee a brighter future for her children. “My children were teenagers when we left Nigeria,” the actor, now a grandmother, added.

On if there was ever a time that Wright’s career was considered to be over, she acknowledged reading her own career obituary, but developing “a thick skin” to not let it get to her.

“There was a time a lot of people thought that [I was done with acting] because I’m a kind of person, when I’m doing something, I’m focused, so I left acting and everything behind. But I knew I was going to get back to it someday because my sister, she’s in the UK, she would be like, ‘Bukola, you have to come back to the industry, the industry needs you’. I’ll be like, ‘Sister, I’m not going to Nigeria’,” she said.

“But when God says it’s time, something took me to Nigeria again. Producers started calling and calling and my manager was like, ‘Sis, people need you here’. So, you know, I gave it a shot.”

She also spoke about going back and forth between Nigeria and US to shoot some projects, including RedCircle and Something about the Briggs, and eventually deciding to return to Nollywood and juggle acting with her information security career.

Moreover, the actor admitted that there were times when she doubted herself and wondered what she was doing away from home in the US.

“When you have to do a lot of things by yourself, you start to wonder what you’re doing. For me, it was not doing something by myself that was the problem, but at some point, the loneliness will get to you. At the point my children started growing, leaving home, being by themselves, I started being by myself and I would be like, ‘This is lonely’.

“Before I could really get deep into it, I would challenge myself again. But was there a time I was depressed? Yes, yes. I was taking antidepressants. I was lonely. I went through a divorce, all that put together would tell on you, trust me. The truth is that abroad can be depressing. If you have a man or a woman by your side coming abroad, please, hold him or her tight.”

The 57-year-old actor revealed that her children, Eniola, a 28-year-old son in the US military and Gbenga, a 30-year-old business analyst and singer, snapped her out of her depression, urging her to stop living her life for them, but start living for herself, enjoying herself, and having fun.

Wright, who starred in the recently released Something about the Briggs, hinted that she is back in Nigeria to stay and is set to feature in many future films. She’s also working on her own movie,The Return of Omotara Johnson, which is inspired by her blockbuster movie, Omotara Johnson, released in 2009.

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