What has changed about me since marriage —Stan Nze

Nollywood actor and movie producer, Stanley Ebuka Nzediegwu, known professionally as Stan Nze has just returned to movie locations for the first time since getting married in September 2021. The baritone-voiced actor, who became prominent with the movie Rattlesnake, in this interview by FEMI OGUNTAYO, talks about his career as an actor and life as a married man. Excerpts:

 

Let me wish you a happy married life, first and foremost. How does it feel to be a married man now?

Yes, thank you so much. Oh yes, it’s been great, it is four months already. I would say it has been quite blissful, fulfilling, it has been a great time, I don’t think I have had a better time in my life. I am enjoying myself, my marriage and most importantly, God’s favour on another level and that is priceless. I cannot trade it for anything. And of course, I am married to the most beautiful woman on earth, my partner, lover and friend. So, no regrets whatsoever.

 

What has changed about you since you became married?

Well, if anything has changed about me since I got married, of course, it would be the fact that I now live with someone in my house, there is no more waking up and feeling you can do whatever you want to do, you have to run it by somebody, you have to practically take permission. Like I am outside town filming for the first time since I got married – I am in Uyo shooting a film and I know how difficult it was. This is a trip I would have just made on my own without caring about anything. But now, I had to make sure everything was in order, leave money for upkeep, check that there is electricity and everything is working before I leave. So, it feels different, to be honest. Now, I am more accountable and responsible.

 

Many of your fans would like to know how you joined the Nigerian movie industry officially. Can you give a brief detail of how and when?

For the how; when I finished secondary school in 2005, it was something I picked interest on and I had a celebrity living in my compound then – Oge Okoye, and because she was there, a couple of other celebrities would always come and I would also hear my siblings say this person just visited, Ini Edo just came, then I just got fascinated by it. It was just quite intriguing. Even before that started happening, I had already started developing this flair for acting, I would watch different films and watch people’s delivery and I was like, I think I would like to do this, I think I can do this. What I didn’t think was possible was doing it professionally, because I was in the sciences class. I don’t think there was any correlation between what I was studying and the movie industry. So, I thought I would just do a few movies and I am back to becoming a medical doctor. But then I got admitted into Nnamdi Azikwe University (UNIZIK) and there I joined a theatre group and we used to minister every Sunday and after every ministration, people always came to me and say, you dey act o, why not consider doing this professionally? That was how I started nurturing the idea and voila! I started doing a couple of stage plays, I started documenting them and it was from there that I met someone in school who was already in the industry. It was my roommate at that time that introduced me to him, showed him my pictures and the stuff I had done, then he introduced me to a Nollywood director. The director didn’t give me any roles but he introduced me to some of those auditions I was going for and that was how I started going for auditions. I wasn’t able to do any of those roles I auditioned for even though I got some of them, because I was still in school. You know, the distance and all that, sometimes, I don’t get to hear about the date on time because I was still upcoming. So, I was missing all those opportunities, till I was doing my Industrial Training (IT) in 2019. I went for an audition where I got my first role in a TV series called ‘Private Sector’ and after then, I went on to feature in several TV series like ‘About to Wed’, Bella’s Place etc. and my career sort of kicked off. During that period, I went back to school. It was after I was done with school that I got a slot on Tinsel and the career started booming afterwards.

 

Can you talk briefly about your childhood? What was growing up like for you?

I am the first child of a family of five children – two other guys and girls, I was born in Lagos, but we moved around a lot. It was around 1993, during the Abiola crises, we first went to the village – Anambra, we were there briefly, then we moved to Ilorin, with my grandparents for a while, then back to Lagos where I finished my primary school education.  After primary school, I moved to Enugu for my secondary school education, I was there for six years. Then, of course, Akwa for my University education at UNIZIK, then back to Lagos.

 

What does the art of acting mean to you?

Art is life, it is living, it teaches and educates. With my craft, for instance, I am a teacher and I can influence people with what they eventually do with their lives. So, I feel art is a tool for transformation and societal change.

 

Which movie would you regard as the big break for you?

Hmm, that is a really dicey one. I would like to think of every movie I have done as cumulating to what my brand – Stan Nze has become today. I do not take each of the projects I have had the privilege to work on for granted. I got on Tinsel in 2011, then I did my first set of break out movies in 2015 and in 2014 that I moved to Asaba and I did some of those Asaba movies, that gave me a different set of fanbase, then in 2015, I did a movie that went to Toronto International Film Festival; I did ‘The Encounter’ the same year. ‘The Encounter’ made people start taking me seriously because prior to ‘The Encounter’ I was doing comedy. In 2016, I did ‘Colourless’ – my own film and this made people say, this guy you dey act o.  I was a villain in the movie; people started giving me bad boy roles after that movie. At a point I was tired of bad guy roles. I wanted to do sweet boy, and in 2019 I did some of that. Of course, in 2020, I did Rattlesnake (The Ahanna Story), which I like to think is my big break, maybe because it’s the biggest film I have done. It was on Netflix as at last year and the response was massive. It was the film that gave me the face and the name, you know that thing where they refer to a particular actor with a particular character name, I think Rattlesnake is the only film that has done that for me – Ahanna. Maybe, I can refer to it as my big break, but I think every movie I have done has contributed to building up the brand.

 

What was your biggest highlight of 2021 and why?

Of course, September 11th, the day I got married, the day I walked down the aisle with the most beautiful woman on earth.

 

You act funny in some movies sometimes you play the lover boy, sometimes the hitman, and sometimes the serious man. Which of these characters do you love playing the most and why?

To be honest I think I enjoy all the characters I play, although some are more difficult than the others. Like comedy, for instance, it is hard for me, even though I do them well but it takes a lot of energy, creativity and time. It is not easy to make people laugh, especially in this part of the world, to make Nigerians laugh. And kudos to all the skit makers and comedians, they are doing such a great job. I think my strength is drama – the serious guy roles or the baritone-voiced/angry guy. But one thing I have been trying to do is that I try to take up any role, as an actor, I am a template and I just want directors to use me as they will. I don’t want to limit myself to just a particular type of role – that is why I am an actor. I like taking up new challenges.

 

Moving forward, what are your plans for the rest of the year, movie-wise?

My plan for the year is to dole out great and amazing contents for the general public to enjoy.

 

Some words to your fans.

I just want to say I appreciate you all; I love you all from the depth of my heart. Thank you for supporting me, my marriage, and my movies, for just being there. I pray that as you all have supported me.