Bukola Bakare
United Kingdom-based actress, Victoria Inyama, recently visited Nigeria. She talks about her family and career
What have you busied yourself with in the United Kingdom?
I have been very much involved in
raising my family and I also went back to the university to further my
education. I went back to study Psychology despite having a bachelor’s
degree in Creative Arts.
Why did you choose to study Psychology?
I like to give back and since I have the
skills, I wanted to do something that would benefit everybody. One of
the things that I have noticed is that a lot of people, especially those
in the ethnic minority are not well represented in the area of
psychology, so helping people assess themselves in terms of their
well-being is one of the things that I want to achieve.
How did you become an actress?
I started acting when I was young and it
was Zik Zulu-Okafor and Alex Usifo, that made me venture into acting.
He was already a part of the soap, Ripples and they needed
somebody to play the role of Barbra Soky’s younger sister. People said
that I looked like her and Alex Usifo, said the same thing to me at that
time. We used to live on the same street in Surulere, Lagos in those
days. He invited me for the audition where Fred Amata and Zeb Ejiro
auditioned me. That was how I started my acting career in the early
nineties.
What other roles came your way afterwards?
After my initial role in Ripples,
the movie industry had started coming up and due to the fact many
people had already seen me act, it was easy to get called for jobs. I
think the first movie that I did was also the same one that Omotola
Jalade-Ekeinde featured in.
Have you had challenges as an actress?
I am no longer in this environment
because I don’t live in Nigeria anymore; I live abroad and I am doing
something totally different. For many years, it was all about family
ties; having children, raising them and learning on the job. Being that I
am in another environment and I don’t have maids, I have taken a
hands-on role as a mother. However, I am back to acting now. I have just
completed work on a production with Tony Monjaro, called Nollywood Knocking.
You have been married for 11years, what has changed about you?
Just like every other thing in life,
marriage is a learning process and mine is not an exception. I am
learning as each day unfolds. Nothing has changed really.
How have you been able to sustain your marriage for this long in an industry where most actresses cannot keep their homes?
Can I pass that question? I don’t want to answer so I don’t want to go there.
You left Nollywood at the peak of your career, did you husband ask you to pull out of the industry or was it a personal choice?
I made my decision to leave the industry based on circumstances if I have to put it that way.
How did you meet your husband?
We met in London in 2003, I was in town for a show and that was how our paths crossed.
What has changed in the industry since you left Nigeria?
A lot has changed because there is more
money in the industry now compared to when we were there, so I want to
believe that artistes are better paid. There may be hiccups here and
there but I think they are better paid.
Is it true that you advised women whose husbands beat them to tie up their men when they are asleep and retaliate?
I never said that. It was the handiwork
of some overzealous blogger that I don’t even know. I put up something
totally different on my Instagram page and it was just about a
discussion that I had with someone. The person apparently had a rough
time in her relationship and it wasn’t favourable at all, so she was now
saying maybe if she had revenged during all the beatings, maybe things
would have been okay. She added that her pastor said that if she sought a
divorce, she is not allowed to marry any other person. Unfortunately,
that blogger quoted me out of context. The post is still there on my
Instagram page so anybody can go and verify. I never said that.
A number of people who read the post said it was a subtle way of telling your story…
Really? I am just hearing this for the
first time, so I don’t even know what to say. I would want to pass on
that as well because I don’t know what to say.
If you weren’t an actress, what other career would you have settled for?
I think I would have been a lawyer
because I’ve always wanted to study Law. I don’t like any form of
injustice and I always like to defend people’s good sides. I strongly
believe that we are all good people, it is just certain situations and
circumstances that make people veer off sometimes.
What are your dreams?
In the next 10 years, I see myself
coming back home to hold seminars on well-being. The dream would be to
encourage people and find ways to help them understand themselves
better. They would have access to health information in whatever areas
they seem to be struggling with. I hope to clarify myths about a lot of
issues. For example, I always say, “Do not mix religion with common
sense, if something is not working, check yourself and make some
changes.’’ It is not everything that you would pray and pray about
because I live in a society where there are Christians but the basic
remains the basic and religion is religion, so you don’t mix the two. If
you are looking for a certain kind of job or want to live a particular
kind of lifestyle, you should be able to work for it and keep yourself
up to the standard. Then, you can pray to also achieve your goals. You
cannot stay at home praying for favour and you want to be a bank manager
when you haven’t even stepped out to prove yourself. That is why most
men of God have really confused a lot of people; they don’t know their
left from their right. There is religion and there is science. They are
two different things.
Who are your role models?
I don’t look up to anyone because
studying Psychology has proved to me that what you see might not really
be what it is. I might see you all dressed up, looking nice and thinking
that you are all that when in fact you have a lot of demons on the
inside. It is just like seeing a big man out there, you make him your
mentor and somewhere along the line, you realise that he is a
paedophile. I am always sceptical about who you say your role model is.
As a Christian, I look up to God and I want to be who he has destined me
to be. I am my own competition because I want to keep improving myself
and be better than who I was yesterday. My role model is what I see in
myself and what I want to be in the future.
What informs what you wear?
Simplicity is key for me, so I like to
dress in a simple manner. I am not a magnificent fashionista. I am not
into the wow effect that people try to create because where I live at
the moment, nobody cares about what you are wearing. As long as my
clothes fit and are comfortable, I am good to go.
How do you unwind when you are not working?
Is it possible to unwind with three
children? It is not. Every spare time that I have, I play with them so
they are always in my face. When I want to watch television for
instance, they are there. For now, I really don’t think I unwind much
other than stay with them.
Now that you are back in
Nollywood, how do you plan on staying relevant in the industry,
especially with the crop of talents on the scene now?
To be honest, there is no competition
for me because you cannot be as short as I am and I cannot be as tall as
another person. Each individual has his or her own set skills and how
they deal with situations. The same is applicable to acting where each
person’s interpretation is different. I think as individuals, we are our
own competition.
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