![Emeka Ike: image by YOUtube/NollyTV]({"default":"http://db2.stb.s-msn.com/i/35/3c5a49c1e9e9b0f1ed3fbee7d3daa0/_h353_w628_m6_otrue_lfalse.jpg"})
Actor Emeka Ike must have lost count of the number of movies he’s acted in since his career began two decades ago.
In the late eighties, just when the Nigerian film industry was about to take off properly and commercially, Ike and a group of other young people stepped into the spotlight. They did take over, as the ensuing years saw a revolution, motivated by the desire to take the otherwise ‘dull’ sector and make it prominent.
In what became a succession of movies from studios that were not necessarily modern at the time, the Nigerian film industry, which has since morphed into Nollywood, got a head start. That push ensured the rest of Africa had to try and catch up for the next decade. The West African film industry overshadows that of any other film industry on the continent as a result of the market size and the sheer volume of output.
Today, it is among the world’s top three film industries. That path was partly charted by Ike and his group of talented actors.
So many years after getting his first on-screen break with Deadly Affair (1987), Ike continues to live his credo as one who was there when the production of films for local and international markets started.
He’s lived to survive the competition that has since come in by new entrants, and often speaks of how these days things are slightly different from what it used to be. In some interviews he’s granted, Ike bemoans the flippant disregard for best practices, insisting even though things were not as overly posh as they are now during their time, some of the people acting today, wouldn’t have had the opportunity.
Earlier this year, Nollywoodone.com reported that the outspoken actor has doubts about the path he took, “In fact, to tell you the truth, I sometimes regret being an actor and celebrity. I don’t have privacy."
A lot has however changed. Quality movies are coming out of Nollywood, and Ike can only be proud of being part of the beginning of what is now being hailed as the world’s most successful film industry stories.
That goodwill extends to the many other people who helped define it properly by their resolve to make Africa rise again through visual projections of the same old, everyday stories most people in the continent already know of.
Ike, often seen as controversial, other times hailed as assertive and one who would go to lengths to ask for the right thing to be done, has become more of a Godfather to most young, upcoming actors.
An entrepreneur with several business interests, it wouldn’t be long before he starts looking elsewhere for inspiration. But no matter how far he goes trying to make ends meet, Ike would always remember the trade that made him the Emeke most Nigerians know.
Ike joins an all-star cast, including Jackie Appiah upcoming movie Stigma set for release this month. Stigma is about the stigmatization of people living with HIV/Aids in Africa
In what became a succession of movies from studios that were not necessarily modern at the time, the Nigerian film industry, which has since morphed into Nollywood, got a head start. That push ensured the rest of Africa had to try and catch up for the next decade. The West African film industry overshadows that of any other film industry on the continent as a result of the market size and the sheer volume of output.
Today, it is among the world’s top three film industries. That path was partly charted by Ike and his group of talented actors.
So many years after getting his first on-screen break with Deadly Affair (1987), Ike continues to live his credo as one who was there when the production of films for local and international markets started.
He’s lived to survive the competition that has since come in by new entrants, and often speaks of how these days things are slightly different from what it used to be. In some interviews he’s granted, Ike bemoans the flippant disregard for best practices, insisting even though things were not as overly posh as they are now during their time, some of the people acting today, wouldn’t have had the opportunity.
Earlier this year, Nollywoodone.com reported that the outspoken actor has doubts about the path he took, “In fact, to tell you the truth, I sometimes regret being an actor and celebrity. I don’t have privacy."
A lot has however changed. Quality movies are coming out of Nollywood, and Ike can only be proud of being part of the beginning of what is now being hailed as the world’s most successful film industry stories.
That goodwill extends to the many other people who helped define it properly by their resolve to make Africa rise again through visual projections of the same old, everyday stories most people in the continent already know of.
Ike, often seen as controversial, other times hailed as assertive and one who would go to lengths to ask for the right thing to be done, has become more of a Godfather to most young, upcoming actors.
An entrepreneur with several business interests, it wouldn’t be long before he starts looking elsewhere for inspiration. But no matter how far he goes trying to make ends meet, Ike would always remember the trade that made him the Emeke most Nigerians know.
Ike joins an all-star cast, including Jackie Appiah upcoming movie Stigma set for release this month. Stigma is about the stigmatization of people living with HIV/Aids in Africa
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