Charlez Blog

“My ex wife and her cohorts planned and kidnapped my wife and child; they were later released after 10 days… That child later died a year after through poisoning. The fact later came out, but I don’t want to act on it now; I don’t want to massacre anybody…”
Let’s start with your recent trip to the US, what took you there?
Over the period, I was busy with a preparation for my American trip. I went there (US) for a movie which is a collaboration between Nollywood and Hollywood production.
It’s a production that belongs to Nollywood. Basically, I’m the man at the helm of the production; I’ll play the lead role for the work. For the first time some celebrated Hollywood actors will be coming to Nigeria to make a movie. The title of the movie is Ibu Runs Mad in America. All through the movie I will be playing the role of a mad man- both the Nigerian and American parts of it.
Was your family that poor?
My family was the poorest in my village. When I lost my father, breeze pulled down our house and we became tenants in our own village. That was Umunekwu Village in Eziokwe, NKanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State.
In the face of all these difficulties, what was your consolation, and what served as the catalyst that propelled you to limelight?
I believed that one day there would be a turn around. I did Karate; I was teaching Karate on the black board at the Federal Government College, Onitsha; just to put food in the stomach. At a point I even went into boxing. My intention of going into boxing was because boxing was becoming lucrative then. Unfortunately, the first day I entered the boxing ring, people around had to carry me home (laughter); the that was my opponent nearly killed me (laughter).
That was how my boxing career ended. My fellow man used hand and scattered my face. Nobody told me to quit boxing.
For your fans that don’t know how the acting journey started for you, can you share with us how it all began?
I can’t really pinpoint anything physical that lured me into acting. However, I can say that my getting into acting was all about a spiritual realization. When I was growing up, I lived with my grandfather who happened to have had an uncanny sense of humor. I enjoyed him more than I enjoyed myself today.
I started acting on December 3, 1978. The issue is that I had never seen myself coming in front of the camera. I was initially involved in Continuity, not until the directors and producers started persuading me to come on board to act. They saw my interpretation of movie roles to be better and more original. It wasn’t as if I was running away from acting, I only wanted to specialize in my Continuity job, being behind the cameras.
So at a point I started acting once in a while. I later asked myself, ‘Ibu, wetin you dey wait, go and concentrate on the thing’. So I took the advantage of the opportunity from my Producers and Directors who loved me so much. Even when I was in elementary school, whenever I commit any offence that deserved punishment, the way I would act, my moves would make everybody to start laughing. By so doing, I was escaping from lots of punishments in the school.
Even now that I’m seriously into the game, I still go back to some of those things I used to do in the past; I only refine it to suit this generation.
I saw his patients laughing in the face of their agonies, just because of the jokes he cracked.
While most of your colleagues are fading, you’ve remained evergreen in the industry; what is the secret?
That is what we call consistency in the profession. There must be something spectacular about you and you must be the kind of person that always seeks to improve.
Are you not worried by the emergence of many talents?
If you are in business or topping your class in school, the admission of new students should not be a threat to you.
I don’t think this young generation can pay the sacrifices I paid in the past. I used to trek on daily basis from Ajao Estate to Festac. It was a daily trekking for me except when there was no auditioning or rehearsal.
My slippers then had lots of holes (laughter). There was no need again for slippers because my toes were always touching the ground even when I was wearing the slippers.
Are you the first born?
We were eight in number; five men and three women. We were given a room in our maternal home; there we all slept at night as if we were in a cell. One leg here, the other leg there! (laughs).
That was how I was surviving. It was from those petty jobs that I got money to see myself through school. My elder brother later came in when he began earning money. When I was picking up my admission form to study Mass Communication at the Institute of Management and Technology, IMT, Enugu.