Legendary Nigerian actor, Pete Edochie, has 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.
Recalling the conversation with his wife, the actor shared; “I told my wife my work was over. She hugged me, bought me a bottle of beer, and said, ‘Pete, you’ve always wanted to be an actor; the time has come.’ At that time, my salary as the director was N9000 per month.”
However, before he formally moved on from broadcasting, Pete Edochie the role of Okonkwo, the lead character in a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s best-selling novel Things Fall Apart.
He won an international award for his execution of the role and the BBC had to fly into Nigeria to have a special feature with him as a result of the movie project.
Watch the full interview:
In other entertainment news…
Nigerian comedian and actor, Stanley Chibunna, popularly known as Funny Bone has said that acting does not pay his bills, so it is something he does for passion.
He said that he enjoys doing standup comedy as much as being in a movie, but he prefers performing comedy on stage. The comic act stated this in an interview while talking about how he juggles being in both the comedy and movie industry.
Funny Bone also dismissed the perception that many actors are stereotyped in the industry, as what is happening is that the Nollywood stars are taking up roles they are comfortable with.
He said; “I enjoy doing stand-up comedy, as much as I enjoy being an actor. I am a trained actor, who studied Theatre Arts in school. Acting was my first love but I prefer doing stand-up. Stand-up comedy comes naturally to me.”
On the matter of stereotyping, the comedian added; “I don’t think actors are being pinned to particular roles. It also about the actors doing what they are comfortable with. Acting does not pay my bills. It is actually something I do for the passion; so, if I must do it, it must add value to my brand as a comedian.
“When I am really ready to do acting, I will take on roles that would show my range, depth and the profundity of my character. For now, I just do what I can do, as long as it adds value to my brand.”
