General News | 2 June 2006 15:10 CET

No more acting for me after marriage


Star Actress, Genevieve Nnaji has stated in unequivocal terms that she will formally quit acting the moment she ties the nuptial nut. She also bared her mind to Romanus Ugwu who caught up with her at an occasion recently.

What is your impression about the movie industry in Nigeria?
I will say that we are growing in bounds. I believe that in no distance time we will meet up the expectations of Nigerians and the wider world.

Would say that you have got what you are looking for as an actress?
I won't say that I am lacking. I am happy with the profession I have chosen. Acting is now part of life and I feel fulfilled.

What have been the ups and downs you have had in the profession as a person and the industry itself?
They have been the normal vicissitudes of life. They are the usual advantages and disadvantages seen in every facets of life. I am not expecting everything to be all roses. But on a serious note, I think I have passed that stage of downs, I am looking up.

What have been the most excruciating difficulties you have encountered since you started acting?
I think I can only remember having difficulties in my first and second year of my entrance into the industry. I faced the situation of going for auditioning, working hard to prove myself ahead of other better ones competing for the same position. I also faced the difficulty of going extra length to prove myself before I was given a job. I have to struggle to meet up with one quality or the other the directors may want for the job. But I think that my stage of facing difficulty has passed right away because for now all I am battling against is the challenges of fame, and the challenges of creativity. To me, this are the challenges I am facing now because you know that it is easy to climb to the top but highly challenging to remain on there.

Some Nigerians tagged you snub, is their impression true?
Do you think that is true, am I a snub? It depends on the way they look at it. But you should know that everybody has different perception about human beings. People who gave me the tag of a snub are those that have not meet me one on one. Since I have never come close to them, their perceptions are erroneously based on assumption. They are not fair to me because they cannot just be at a far distance and conclude that I am like this or that I must be like that. Some of them that are too scared to reach me will just look for an excuse to cover their fright with some funny description of my person. They have capitalised their impression of me as being unapproachable to tag me as a snub.

I personally stumbled on your picture in American Singles website, could it be that you are actually looking for Mr. Right and if so, why must it be in a website?
It is no longer news that my pictures are there but the truth is that I am not the one that put it there. I have not seen it though I have been informed about the picture. In fact, somebody has even printed some thing like that and shown it to me. But on a serious note, I am not even looking for husband, so, why should I go and publicise such there.

When you say that you are not looking for husband, are you implying that you are married?
I am not married but that does not imply that I am looking for one. When are you finally tying the nuptial nut?
The day I tie it, I will stop what I am doing as an actress. So ours is to decide whether you have to tie the nuptial nut or to remain an actress forever.

Are you signifying that the day you formally get married you quit acting?
What I am saying is that you can't eat your cake and have it. Therefore, when I enter into a serious relationship, definitely, if at all I will continue acting, I am certainly going to be doing less of what I am doing now. The truth remains that I am going to be committed to somebody else which invariably will reduce the amount of time I would have put in into my job. So, people should actually think of the effect of what they are doing at the expense of their married life. What if I get married and my husband don't like my continuation in the business?

What do you think of the nudity of ladies in the Nigerian movie industry?
There is no nudity in our industry. We don't have it anymore. We use to have it when some people thought it was the trend but we don't have that anymore. I am just stating the fact that we don't have it now.

How would Genevieve want to be remembered?
I want to be remembered by my works, my belief, by the niche I have carved for myself, and by my hard work. I want people to know me as a girl who had strong believe in herself when I want to get what I want and I want everybody to do same.

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