After the success of ‘Being Mrs Elliot’ beautiful Nollywood actress, Omoni Oboli is set to premiere a new movie, ‘The First Lady’ on Independence day, October 1. Naij.com recently caught up with the talented and award winning actress where she spoke about her career, marriage and her stunning look after three children. Excerpt…
You just produced a new movie after ‘Being Mrs Eliot’, tell us about it?
‘The First Lady’ is a very entertaining, hilarious, romantic comedy movie. It’s the kind of movie people will appreciate. It is a movie that will make you come out of depression. That was what motivated me when I was writing the film.
Why the title ‘The First Lady’?
In the movie, the character ‘Obama’ sees himself like the king of the land, the lord of the area. So everyone started calling him Obama as a mark of respect. He’s a local pimp who has prostitutes under him. The prostitute who’s also his girlfriend is his First Lady. He calls her his ‘First lady’. So everyone started calling her Michelle since he’s Obama. The main prostitute in question is Obama’s First Lady.
You scored big by premiering ‘Being Mrs Elliot’ at Aso Rock, Abuja and the president was even there to watch it.
Thank you very much.
How were you able to pull that through?
Everybody knows that the former president, Goodluck Jonathan was a big fan of Nigerian entertainment industry and Nollywood in particular because he always thinks that movies can pass message better than any other thing. We wrote to them through the Nigeria film and marketers association of Nigeria and we said we had this movie we wanted to premier at Aso Rock. I did the movie and thought to myself who is the one person that will watch this movie and give it his blessings. You know when you are doing something big as a child and you want to show it to your father. So I said why not show it to the father of the nation, the president. Lo and behold they wrote us back that the president will be interested. The day we premiered the movie was the first time I met him one on one. He actually thought a man was the director so when I came in to meet him he said ‘oh I thought it was a man.’ He didn’t know it was one little girl like this. So it’s was a great thing for the whole industry not just me as a person I think it’s something to be applauded.
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Omoni Oboli shaking former President Jonathan
That was a tall dream and it seems you are tall dreamer?
Yes, I have always said that if your dreams don’t scare you then they are not big enough. They just have to scare you, they have to be dreams that when you think about them at night you can’t sleep and I say do it any way, though it scares you struggle with it and just do it. That is what I believe and I always strive to do whatever I have to do.
So which other tall dream are we expecting from you?
For now I am focusing on producing and directing and of course acting as well. I am dreaming of doing bigger movies than what we are doing right now. I’m dreaming of at least one really big movie that will cut across Nigeria and African and every other part of the world. I know it’s a tall order. I know it is something that will take money and resources. I believe one day I will do it.
How long have you been married?
I’ve been married for almost 15 years.
How have you been able to balance it up as a wife, a mother and a career woman?
I have always said that you got to do what you got to do. So I know I have got to be a wife and a mum and a career woman. I will not lie to you that it’s easy to balance this aspect of one’s life but every mother who has to work goes through the same thing. You are joggling so many different balls and you try not to drop any of the balls but the truth is every once in a while you will have to drop one of the balls. What I always say is try not to beat yourself up when that happens try not feel guilty nobody is perfect. So try your best to be everything you can. If you have a good support system that helps a lot, you have a supportive husband that helps a great deal also.
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How supportive has your husband being?
He has been very supportive and everyone knows. He makes sure I do what I have to do, that I have the right environment to do what I have to do. And everything is taken care of so I can be creative.
Not many men would be like that?
Yes, I know I’m lucky.
You should be a tomboy by now having all the men around you?
I am anything but a tomboy. I am such a girly girl which is unbelievable because I am one person that loves being a girl. Being a movie director and being a girly girl doesn’t go together because most female directors are tomboys. I don’t intend to be a tomboy any time soon; sometime people don’t take me serious because they think I don’t look like a director. I wonder how a director looks. Must I just dress down for you to take me serious? The truth is when I am doing my movies they will take me serious at some point because my movies will speak for me.
Are you thinking of having girl-child soon?
I wish I could but there is no guarantee, so I don’t think I want to have another boy. But if there is a guarantee, I would have a girl.
Have you directed other people movies aside yours?
No I have not. I have not had the time. I have been approached to direct two or three movies but I have not had the time at all. I am so busy because I write as well as acting there is just so much that I am doing. And directing takes a lot, I am not a kind of director that will direct a movie and pack the rushes and give to the editor then goes to sleep. I am part of the editor of my.
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A lot of things have been said about you that you are so good at what you are doing, how have you been able to perfect your act in the industry?
Well its take a lot of being true to yourself knowing your limitations and working on your limitation. If you don’t lie to yourself as an actress it’s fantastic. I know the place I am not good at and I work on those areas studying. The bible said ‘be diligent to study’, always studying trying to better you in every point in time. Looking at other actors that you admire, see what they’re doing, go to film school and study acting if you have to. Just keep trying to better yourself. Treat every script differently, I treat it that way so every character is different so when people watch your movie they are not seeing the same person over and over again they are seeing different characters which is what it’s should be.
In Being Mrs. Elliot you featured your children, is any of your kids interested in acting or just your movie?
My kids love acting especially my first son who has actually won two awards for acting. He has gotten so many nominations too. So why not if my scripts require children and I already have kids who can act why not use them.
Do you pay them as you would kids actor you employ their services?
They were paid in in nice holiday that is even more than what I would have paid them or paid any child to act.
You wear your natural hair a lot, what prompted that?
I rock my natural hair all the time everyone knows that, long before being natural became a fashion trend. For me it’s not a trend it is just who I am.
So you don’t do lots of artificial?
Oh I wear wigs, being natural doesn’t mean you can’t wear wigs. I wear it once in a while because as a naturalist it is also good to protect your hair which you can just have your hair in corn rows or you put on a wig.
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Looking slim like this as a mother of three boys what is the beauty secret?
I should ask you that you look slim yourself. I believe very much in having a healthy life style. Everybody knows I am always talking about healthy diet and fitness- eating healthy and eating lots of fruits, vegetables and smoothies. I have smoothies every day; I have lot of green tea and other tea. I try to eat complex carbohydrate make sure my food is as natural as its can be. It’s been a long journey for me I am not on a diet, I am on a healthy lifestyle and I have been this way for many years. My kids eat healthy too because that is what they are used to.
How have you been able to manage a scandal free life in the entertainment industry?
I don’t know if I am managing a scandal free life I am just being me. People will always talk, I don’t think there is any such thing as being scandal free using that word because people will say all sort of things 90% of them are lies. It is what it is; it is the life we have chosen. You are in the limelight things will happen and people will think it differently they will draw their own conclusion there is nothing you can do about it. The only thing you can do is ignore everything don’t let it get to you because it will always be there as long as you remain in that space of being celebrity or being an actor.
You are among the few married actress that have been able to sustain their marriage in Nollywood, what is the secret?
I think the biggest thing is the communication between us and the fact that we both decided early in the marriage that we are in this forever. So if you know you would be in it forever you are going to doing everything to make it work. And the fact that we can talk to each other, we can figure out what the issues are. It is not like we don’t have issues, everyone has issues there is no such thing like perfect marriage, it does not exist. so when people are looking for that perfect marriage out there, they are looking for a myth which does not exist. Everyone has issues how you handle these issues are important. Are these issues going to break the marriage up or make it stronger? So if you have decided I love this person I am going to be with this person with all his imperfections because nobody is perfect. You are not even perfect so why are you looking for the perfect person. So if you have decided you are going to have that then you make it work one way or the other.
The post Exclusive: I Have Tall Dreams That Scare Me – Omoni Oboli appeared first on Nigeria News today & Breaking news | Read on NAIJ.COM.
Exclusive: I Have Tall Dreams That Scare Me – Omoni Oboli
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