Acting has improved me very much –Cynthia Agholor

Cynthia Agholor

Highly rated actress, Cynthia Agholor, tells OSEYIZA OOGBODO BLOG about her life as an actress

and especially what acting has done for her.

You began acting as a teenager. How old were you then?

I don’t want to say it.

What’s wrong in revealing your age?

I don’t wanna say it. I was a teenager, period.

You are a Christian. Are you born again?

Yeah, I’m a born again Christian.

Is it possible to be born again in an industry such as Nollywood with all its vices and loose morals?

Why not?

But you have to kiss in movies and lie in bed with your male colleagues.

That’s not a sin. That’s acting.

Kissing someone you’re not legally married to?

It’s acting. You’re not doing it, you’re acting. Your feelings are not there.

But what sort of image do you think you are projecting when you are supposed to live an exemplary and righteous life as someone who has given her life to Christ?

Must I go about dirty because I’m born again? I need to look good so that when someone approaches me, they will say hey you look good. I now tell the person that hey it’s Jesus. Then I start preaching. Something has to attract somebody to come to me. So if I can preach to you the way I’m looking, and the way I am, and considering the fact that I’m an actress and I’m preaching to you and you have seen my movie and liked it, of course, men, if you look at yourself, you will want to surrender to God. For instance, I went to my friend’s church one day and the pastor, who knows me, introduced me after the service and people were like wow, if you can be born again in your profession, what are we waiting for?

How many movies have you acted in?

I can’t count oh. I’ve done quite a few as everyone is aware and I just can’t count them.

Would you then say you are as popular as Omotola or Genevieve?

No, you won’t say that because I’m Cynthia, I’m on my own. I actually left the movie industry for five years, went to school, concentrated on modelling and came back finally after my youth service in 2005. Since then, I’ve featured in many movies so I wouldn’t compare myself with others because they’ve been there and I was out for some years till I came back.

Are you undecided as to what you want between acting and modelling?

They are almost the same thing. I have the features, I model. I like modelling, and I faced it while I was in school because it doesn’t really take much of my time. I just do some runway, some calendar jobs, billboards and all that and then face my studies whereas acting takes a lot of time. Anyway, it’s not about being undecided, it’s the same thing, it’s showbiz. I’m an MC too and I still do other things that are showbiz. If you have the showbiz thing in you, you should be able to do anything showbiz. I present too so I’m a presenter.

Of all these jobs you do, which one has favoured you the most?

Well, I wouldn’t really want to say one has favoured me more because they have all favoured me in one way or the other. But I’ll say acting has improved me so much, you understand? Even though I lack my privacy sometimes, acting has exposed me, it has even actually exposed me to some of the modelling jobs I’ve done, MC and all that, presenting too, so let’s say acting is the overall for me because it is where people identified my talent and got to know who Cynthia is.

So where do you hope to be professionally?

Well, anywhere God takes me. I’ve been striving since I came back in 2005 to be up there. I’ve been working very hard with the grace of God and I know that by His grace, I’m going to be where He wants me to be.

Tell us your most challenging role.

I did a job, My Sister My Child, and I’ll say it’s been the most challenging because I played a triple role in it. I was a well-pampered teenager, on to a maltreated adult, then a self-employed person who has made it. Three different characters in one movie.

So is acting fulfilling for you?

Of course. Acting is now business. The money is very good now, so you can say fine, this is what I achieved from acting, this is what I own from acting. And all from getting paid for doing something you love doing.

What are those assets you have acquired?

I should now come and start saying my assets? I can’t tell you what they are but I know I’ve achieved. Financially too.

So you are a millionaire?

Well, I claim it, but then, I wouldn’t want to start using such words in the pages of newspapers. But I’m okay. I don’t have to be a millionaire. I feed myself, I have people under me that I feed, we’re comfortable, I’ve a home where we stay, you know, after going about, you come in and lay your head there, we have food to eat, so I’m okay, I’m comfortable.