It is not news to anybody at this point. Getting into Nollywood, especially back in the day, came with a lot of stories of struggle, hardship, endless auditioning, and a myriad of other things. One actress who is speaking out now about her own challenges trying to break into the Nigerian entertainment industry is star actress, Yvonne Jegede.
Yvonne Jegede over the course of her career has starred in a number of blockbuster productions including 10 Days in Suncity, The FirstLady, Diamonds in the Sky, Okafor’s Law, Rising: City of Dreams, and many more. Yes, she’s enjoying her career now, but getting here wasn’t roses. During her interview with the women over at TVC’s Your View, Yvonne Jegede opened up about some of the obstacles she faced while trying to break into Nollywood. Here is what the actress said.
Speaking about her journey into Nollywood and the troubles she faced, Yvonne Jegede said:
I joined Nollywood two times. The first time was when I was very young, during the African Queen era. Coming into Nollywood, I will not say I had a tough time. But I went for auditions. I trekked. I waka. I climbed okada well well. So it was a very good experience.
But one thing that kinda set me back at the time was the fact that I couldn’t speak Igbo and I was not an Igbo girl. So most times when I meet the marketers you know, they were old people, they would always speak me Igbo and I’d be like “I don’t understand what you’re saying” and they’ll be like “Ah ah”. So the communication was a problem. Most of them then were not enlightened like that. They were businessmen and it was a problem for me to really interact. But somehow somehow few of them gave me an opportunity. Then I left 2007.
Came back 2012, that was when I really came back. That was when I really came back and that was when I heard whim. It was hard because then people had seen some of my work and they were like “she sabi act that time, she go still sabi act?” I even got somebody who tried to give me a job in Enugu, he called me for a script then he said he had 10 scripts in total that he wanted to shoot and he wanted to put me in all of them. I said “Okay, alright. How much are you going to pay?” He said “Ehn, ah! I want to give you visibility, you dey still ask me how much”. For 10 movies. I had issues like that, I had problems! But here I am now.
What do you think about what Yvonne Jegede said, and about all the things that she went through to become the household name we know and love now.
