‘Acting is one of the toughest jobs’

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?Ricardo Agbor: My name is Ricardo and I was born into a Christian family of five, born and breed in Lagos. I am married with two kids, twins, a boy and a girl to be precise. I am a Mass Communications graduate. I graduated in 1993. I […]

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Ricardo Agbor: My name is Ricardo and I was born into a Christian family of five, born and breed in Lagos. I am married with two kids, twins, a boy and a girl to be precise. I am a Mass Communications graduate. I graduated in 1993. I am from Cross River State, Ikon Local Government Area t.
Tell us about your first time on the screen.
That day I actually went for a modeling cast and I met a friend of mine who told me about an audition going on for new actors and actresses. We then went for it and I got picked and from there on there was no turning back.
Was acting something you have always wanted to do since you were a child?
Actually, acting is something I have always wanted to do. I preferred acting than modeling. I went into modeling then to give me a chance for acting. Modeling was sort of a stepping stone into acting, I enjoyed and gave it my best, but I was really cut out for acting and was glad I finally made it to the career of my dreams.
You are one of the few versatile actors we have around who can naturally fit into any movie. You act both in English and Yoruba movies, which of these movies do you feel more comfortable with?
I need to correct the misconception of many who tend to think that both categories have a major difference. I don’t think there is any difference asides the mode of communications which is the language. It might be a little more challenging for me, because Yoruba isn’t my language but as someone who was born and breed in Lagos, Yoruba was the closest language to English that I was exposed to.
In Yoruba there are some words that are not used on a daily basis which has to be used in a movie and most times we get to meet or act with some actors and producers who were not born in Lagos and they tend to like to speak the core Yoruba which ends up sounding different for most of them. So, for me language wise the acting in the Yoruba movie is a little more challenging, while the English movie is acted in a language that we speak every day.
Do we get to see you in a Hausa or Igbo movie soon?
As the job requires I could learn and try to fit into it, but basically, I don’t think I can go into that now. It is something I have always thought of, but will require a lot of work, so I keep my fingers crossed.
People have this perception that Nollywood is all about glamour and living ‘the dream’. As a Nollywood star, what do you have to say about this?
I think the impression people have of Nollywood and its stars are heinous. Acting in Nollywood is a vocation just like any other job in the society. Talking about the glamour of the stars, it all boils down to the publicity the press gives to the stars. You cannot cut entertainment from publicity in the society, they go hand in hand, and the glitz and glamour is always associated with entertainment. The truth is, it is one of the toughest jobs you can think of. Actors and actresses are shooting a movie by 2am when everybody is sleeping, but we are out there encountering all the dangerous criminals and risks just to make sure   we get a movie out there for your relaxation and entertainment and people still feel we are living a glamorous and fake life. Wow!
It’s seriously a very wrong impression, because we are every minute of our lives living day and night to bring out something for the public. We read scripts every day and night getting to fit into whatever personality we are to act out in the movie at hand. As an actor we don’t have the kind of luxury people think we have when it comes to acting out these characters.
Having said that, do you think Nollywood is getting the right attention it deserves from the public and relevant stakeholders?
Seriously, I think Nollywood is getting all the attention it needs. Taking a look at the past and comparing it to what we have now, I think people and the stakeholders are coming to terms that Nollywood is the vehicle through which messages and thoughts and ideas of change and communications can be propagated to the larger society.
If a play is well written, normally it is not to glorify the actors, actresses, producers or directors. It is all about telling people what it is the right thing to be done in the society. It is all about trying to put things right in the society but through acting. These have made people to realize that there is a need to partner with Nollywood if some changes need to be propagated in the society and if they want to get their thoughts across to the world.
Nollywood is believed to have encouraged indecent dressing in the society. What do you have to say about that?
The truth is that most of them are just hypocrites and always look for an easy way out of their irresponsibility. Nollywood can’t be responsible for the way people dress these days; it is terrible and unfair for people to blame Nollywood for whatever wrongs they commit in the society. Dressing in Nollywood is done according to characters. The dressing of a character helps put the person forward and portrays the person in that light. For example, a wayward person is should be portrayed that way, so that the message can be properly passed.
Second, most of the movies are rated, so if you as a parent allow your young child to watch a movie that is rated PG18, then you have yourself to blame if the child decides to implement what he/she sees on screen to their personal lives. They have to monitor to see what their children are doing, so they just go about blaming the Nollywood industry. I want to set it straight here that Nollywood does not encourage indecent dressing; all those dressings you see in the movies are stage dressings and only meant to portray a particular character.
An American magazine quoted you as saying that  you had attained success but you still had to do some hustling to party up your bills and stay on track. Is this still the case with you?
No, it’s not, I’m happy to be where I am now.
Asides acting, what else do you do?
You see this is one question that always baffles me. When you ask ‘asides acting, what do I do’?,  you make it look as if acting is just an ordinary thing that every other person can do. Acting entails a lot of work and needs all the concentration it can get from the actor/actress. Acting is not something you just dip your hands into and then go somewhere else and start doing something else. It doesn’t work that way. Right now, I had to leave a shot in Lagos to come to Ibadan for the shooting of a scene for another movie. I will be back to Lagos tomorrow to continue the shoot of the other movie.
You have acted so many movies, which has been your most challenging so far and why?
As a professional actor, movies should be challenging, but then we are all humans and there are different factors for different movies. There was this Yoruba movie   called ‘fayima’, that for me was really challenging because of the deep Yoruba accent that was used in the movie. In the movie I played the role of ‘Orumila’ a very prominent person in the Yoruba kingdom. It was a really challenging process for me, because I got to know and learn about new things of the Yoruba culture. It was fun also for me, but really tasking. On the English side, I would say the movie ‘Problem Child’ was really tasking for me.
Most entertainers are surrounded in negative news; this isn’t only particular in Nigeria as it cuts across global movie industry….
I can tell you it is just in Nigeria. In other industries it is only when a personality is in a crisis that the media gets to write about it. They have more respect for their entertainers there as they are more interested in using their stars for soft sell and endorsement. But over here it is believed that the entertainers are the ones to sell their publicity, which I think is wrong. We need to understand that the media and the entertainers need to work hand in hand to make things work in the society. Publicity is important and necessary for things to be done rightly. But because of the kind of negative publicity that most media have given some entertainers, it becomes difficult to even relate. Over here, the media tends to dwell more on the negative than the positive. Take for example, if I was someone who wasn’t aware of what publicity was all about, I would not even have granted this interview in the first place.
Don’t you think, you are aware of what publicity entails giving that you are coming from a mass communication background?
Well, I can’t answer that so that I do not spite those who did not read Mass Communications. But all I can say is that the media needs to do more in terms of keeping it real when it comes to issues bothering around entertainers. We can’t continue to spread news based on hear say so that our media has an edge.
Having said that, can you tell us something that the media has said of you that isn’t true?
The media portray me as arrogant, which I feel is very untrue. It’s just that I like to study people first when I meet them for the first time, so that I know how to interact with them, rather than me just talking without knowing if I am making any relevance to the person. I am a peaceful, loving and very down to earth kind of person. I don’t like situations where people jump into conclusion without finding out the facts. I studied Mass Communications and people ask if at anytime I practised journalism, right now I am practising journalism with the kind of job I am doing. Since I am disseminating news via our medium, it is just as an actor I am combining the power of sights and sounds.
How do you handle your female fans?
I am always nice to them and relate with them well. I also try as much as possible not to allow them take it too far, most importantly while doing that I try to make them feel important. My most embarrassing moments from a female fan was a day when I had to rush someone and there was heavy traffic, so I had to get down from my car and cross over to the next lane and a lady who was also crossing the street saw me and just stood still on the road after calling out my name. She was lost staring at me that she forgot she was in the middle of the road. I had to go and pull and jolt her back to reality. I then asked how she was and she just could not say anything and after a while I left her.
Who are some of your favorite actors/ actresses you look forward to working with?
I really don’t have a favorite, but always loves to work with anyone who can act professionally. Even if one is a green horn, I think everyone deserves a chance to put in his/her best.
Describe yourself in three words.
God fearing, simple and very professional