Legendary Nigerian actor, Pete Edochie has said he began acting years before Nollywood came into existence.
The 76-year-old said when he made his actong debut in the 1985 movie adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s novel, ‘Things Fall Apart,’ there was nothing like Nollywood.
Edochie, who spoke during a recent interview with Afia TV, referred to himself as a senior in the Nigerian movie industry.
According to the celebrated thespian, Nollywood was birthed seven years after the release of Things Fall Apart and the first film under its banner was Living In Bondage.
He said; “I’m senior in the movie industry. I mean, when I did ‘Things Fall Apart’ in 1985, there was nothing like Nollywood. By then, Nollywood was slumbering sonorously in the womb of time.
“It was seven years after that Nollywood came on board with ‘Living In Bondage.’ I went round the world before Nollywood came. By the special grace of God, after I did ‘Things Fall Apart,’ I was celebrated internationally.
“The BCC flew in here [Nigeria] to interview me and tell flew into America to interview Chinua Achebe. And Achebe said, ‘Pete Edochie gave that role an interpretation after my heart.’ Before he died, he was calling me Okonkwo. Seven years after Nollywood came and when I retired from broadcasting, I joined Nollywood.”
Meanwhile in another news…
CorrectNG reported earlier that Pete Edochie revealed the amount (in naira) he was paid for his first movie role decades ago.
Speaking in an interview with media personality, Chide Jideonwo, Edochie said he was offered N50,000 (Fifty Thousand Naira) to make a movie.
He said someone came to his house with a cheque when he had just lost his broadcast job and the paycheck encouraged him to abandon broadcasting for acting.
“I was sitting there with her in the parlour when somebody from Lagos came to give me a check for fifty thousand to make a film,” he said.
According to the Nollywood veteran, the acting gig and paycheck came at the right time, as he had just lost his broadcasting job due to religious differences and internal issues.
Edochie said he talked to his wife after losing his job and she encouraged him to embrace acting as a new career path since his job a director had ended.
