ABANDONING a medical career cut short by circumstances she couldn't control, Nkiru Sylvanus has etched her name in Nollywood's tablet of fame. The Osisioma Ngwa, Abia girl we trust with roles that depict the other side of our life: sorrow, pain and suffering, can still remember it hasn't taken her so long to be where she is today (she is six years in the industry).
We took her up on the things that made her strong. And she opened up on the secrets of her career and life…

The mystery of acting is profound and interesting. One is suddenly transported to another world. How do you do this?

Acting is a talent that when you discover it, you fit in perfectly. So, I just found myself as one of the people that have the talent to act. I interpret every character that comes my way because it is in me.

You are one actress that best portrays pain, sorrow and suffering?

Every human being must have a bit of emotion in them depending on the situation and condition. Somehow, I will say I am naturally emotional, but situations bring out that emotive impulse. Still the Nkiru Sylvanus you see in the movie is purely an artistic creation that has no choice other than being the character she was paid to be. Off stage, she can be something else, you never can tell.

You said you could interpret all roles. Can you tell us other movies you have done, playing radically different roles other than the stereotypical suffering and oppressed girl?

I have done a lot of movies that I didn't have to cry. I may not be able to remember all of them now; but I can remember the one we shot in Calabar, The Queen. Here I played the opposite of what I have been doing in movies. I was somehow wicked to my elder sister (that was Stella Damasus).