How I was pressured into acting – Nkem Owoh

Famous Nollywood veteran, Nkem Owoh, popularly called Osuofia, opened up on the start of his acting career, revealing that he was pressured to take the bold step.

While speaking on the Selah Meditate podcast, the comic actor disclosed that he started off in the entertainment industry as a scriptwriter. He added that he was coerced by his colleagues to give acting a chance because he was fond of making them laugh behind the scenes.

”My coming in front of the camera was an accident. I was a scriptwriter behind the scenes and people started telling me to start performing in front of the camera. I remember ATV created a 7-minute programme for me to do stand-up comedy in the 80s. They told me to come in front of the camera because I was making people laugh behind the camera. With much pressure, I came in front of the camera. And I saw that what I was doing people were buying it so that was how my acting career began,” he stated.

Owoh also spoke about the cons of being in the spotlight, noting that fame took away his freedom.

“Fame took away my freedom. A lot of people want to be celebrities, they only know the benefits but not the downsides. When you become famous you can’t do a lot of the things you were doing freely before. You become restricted in a lot of ways,” he added.