Patience Ozokwor A.K.A Mama G is an interesting, vibrant and energetic actress popularly known for playing ‘Wicked’ roles in different Nollywood flicks.
Many people have thought playing such roles might not have helped her career. In this interview, Mama G who is from Enugu State believes that playing such roles has boosted her career in so many ways. Here is an excerpt of her interview with The Nation Newspaper.
Can You Recall How It All Started?
I think the question should be ‘What was that movie that gave producers the courage to start giving me that kind of role?’. It was a gradual process. The role I played in ‘Amina’ and then I played another one that looks like it with late Nelly Uchendu in ‘Odum’. So these two movies gave the producers the courage to talk to other producers about me. They now gave me another similar role in ‘Authority’. I was not paid much. But all things I lost in financial aspect, I got from the leverage it has given to me. As soon as I played that role, oh my goodness! It just took me to where I never thought I would get to. When I was playing it, I didn’t even know what I was doing but it came out so beautiful.
How Was The Working Relationship With The Director?
The director really worked on me. He told me I was fast at speech. I could say a lot of things within a twinkle of an eye, you know I once worked on radio where you have limited time to say so many things. This affected my speech and the director drew my attention to it. So when were doing ‘My Husband’ with late Jennifer Ossai, the director called me and said ‘I love your reaction but you really have to watch the speed of your speech.’ That was Chika Onu. I took it in good faith because I was taught in Radio Nigeria to read to myself. That really helped me cut down my speech speed. Chika Onu was also the director of ‘Authority’ . He worked on me and I also learnt from other directors too including Andy Chukwu, Afam Okereke and many others.
How Do You Feel Playing The Same Kind of Role All The Time?
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a role he is known for in action movies. Some people are known for stunts, others are known for romance. So it is not a problem. It was when I was coming up I thought it will kill me. I didn’t know it was going to lift me to a height I didn’t even imagine, and you know the roles I played are very vibrant and it makes people want to watch me. Even if I play a good
woman now, my fans will start complaining. And if your fans complain, it means the producers will then give you the vibrant roles more. And with each script I get, I try to make it different from what I have done before. It is not an easy task to play vibrant roles like mine. I tell you the truth, to cry and shout and do all those things at the same time is not easy. So it is difficult to find people who can do it.
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