‘Why I dumped my PhD in Epidemiology to star in Nollywood movies’

Let us meet you, please. I am Claret Ijeoma Viola Onukaogu, from Imo State. I reside in Atlanta Georgia, USA. I do a couple of things. I have PhD in Epidemiology, and currently studying and also working with a family owned nonprofit organization called Africa America Crisis Assisted Network (AACAN). We provide help for the […]

Let us meet you, please.
I am Claret Ijeoma Viola Onukaogu, from Imo State. I reside in Atlanta Georgia, USA.
I do a couple of things. I have PhD in Epidemiology, and currently studying and also working with a family owned nonprofit organization called Africa America Crisis Assisted Network (AACAN). We provide help for the less fortunate. We give aid like clothing, shoes and sometimes food supplies to the homeless.
Even though I have been an academician for a long time, I always do modelling. It’s something that has always been a passion of mine and I’m actually with a modelling agency in Atlanta Georgia called Fleming and Modelling agency.
Just like modelling has been a hobby for me, acting has always been something I also have a passion for even before I set out to go to the USA so many years ago. I used to act any time there was school plays and shows. You’ll always see me there. One time, I was the inter-house sports queen. I did a lot of theatrical acting and debates and other things that required me to stay in the public view when I was in primary and secondary schools here in Nigeria. I did a lot of that in FGGC, Ibuzo in Delta state.

Miss Nigeria; in America how was the pageant?
It was very stressful and challenging. It wasn’t the traditional pageant; it was more brain than beauty. We went through a tedious selection process. First, you’ll apply and the organization will ask why you think you’ll be Miss Nigeria in America. Next they’ll give you a call and the President of the organization will interview you. If you get through to the next stage, you’ll be given a title. I contested as Miss Oyo, even though I’m from Imo state. All the contestants represented different regions.
After that, we went through six weeks of writing papers and researching. Some Professors from the University of Southern California were the ones grading our papers and they asked us to select a nonprofit organization where we did our community service work. The minimum of hours we had to give to the NGOs was at least four hours a week. So, we did four hours of community work every week, documented it and sent to them. They called the NGOs and verified if actually you did what you are claiming to have done.
The NGO I chose for this is a government based non-profit organization. I worked with the less fortunate; people who were physically and mentally challenged and I also gave lectures to girls who had a depreciated life, who prostituted and those into substance abuse. I taught them at least, once a week. It was fun and are experience.
As you do all these things, writing your papers and doing your community service, they score you because every week, they grade you. The points you scored with the community development is carried over to the main pageant.
After the six weeks, we went to Los Angelis, California, where we had the pageant. We stayed there for five days. On the D-day, all the points we had been scoring was rated. That was the day we did the regular pageantry, with the points recorded that day and the previous ones put together and I emerged winner.
Is the pageant only for Nigerian’s?
Yes it was and was organised by Nigerians. It’s called Miss Nigeria in America. It is meant to showcase outstanding young Nigeria women. And in a lot of ways, it portrays our culture. At the show, we had our traditional wears and there was no kind of Nigeria traditional outfit that was not worn that day.
The questions and answers they gave us on the D-day were all related to African, the papers that we wrote about were all related to Nigerian topics. In every way, it did represent the African culture. 

Movies
I have done a lot of theatrical works; that have always been my base. Like I said before, I started acting way back in school. Professionally, I have acted in two movies including Red Soil produced by a Ghanaian. I played the role of a maid. I also acted in another movie as a model.

What’s your goal?
I want to act in Nollywood since I have done a lot of theatrical acting; I want to bridge over to mainstream acting. Watching Nollywood movies, I have a strong passion to act in that industry, so I decided to come down and pursue it.

Who are your best three Nollywood actresses?
I like the obvious, Omotola and Genevieve. I like them because I believe they are more natural actresses. I have to think of another one. There are so many of them I can say they are of the same quality, I don’t know.

Do you see yourself doing better than these two actresses?
I don’t look at it like a competition. I don’t feel I’m going there to compete with anybody but I feel that they’ve proven themselves and it’s now time for me to prove myself. If people happen to like me more than they like them, then, so be it. But I don’t think we are in a competition. If anything, I admire what they do.

What would be your reaction if you are asked to exchange sex for a role?Well, coming into the entertainment industry, I already expect that. I have already prepared myself psychologically. I know that along the line, somewhere, somehow, somebody is going to make some demands. It’s like that in every industry. Even in the corporate world. In order for somebody to move up the ladder, she has to do one or two things you know. There might be demands. I know those things will come and I’m ready for them.

You mean you can say ‘yes’ to get a role?
Absolutely not! I’m a grown woman. It’s not to say that all these while, before I started aspiring to get into Nollywood that people haven’t asked me for those things, but I know how I handle my stuff. I do believe in talent. I believe in working hard and I trust that hard work can get you to the top beside connections. I pray a lot. I asked God to work with me, to guide me to people who are willing to work with me, who won’t start making such demands and even if they do and if I say no, it won’t interfere with the help they had wanted to render. I feel that I have to go in and prove that I have the talent that will take Nollywood to the next level. I have never achieved anything sleeping with anybody and I’m not going to do that.

To what degree does such demands exists in Hollywood?
Ha-ah! I think Hollywood is worst. Over here, it’s easier because you might get a producer or a director who picks interest in you and will genuinely want to bring you up. But in Hollywood, the door is closed. It is so saturated; you go to New-York, Los Angeles, every young girl and man want to get into Hollywood.
The demands are so high that even when you are talented, you need to provide more than talent to get a role and a lot of the time, it involves all kinds of things.
That’s entertainment industry experience.

Would you mind acting nude?
Acting nude is not my thing. Yes, I’ve been a model. I have taken some provocative pix and have won some really short things but nudity is something that I don’t see myself doing. I don’t see myself just going completely nude.

You wouldn’t mind half-nudity
If my vital parts will be covered, that’s fine. If I’m going to show my arms, legs and thighs, that’s no problem so long I don’t show my private parts.

What was your first experience on set like?
It was great because it was something I have passion for. My first time on a set, I stayed there the whole day, I stayed in a city called Savanna, Georgia in the USA and we travelled to a different city called Yoruba village and stayed there the whole day. I was tired but because I have a passion for it, I perserved. To me, it was interesting. I watched what the camera men, the director, producer and other actors and actresses were doing. So, it was very interesting for me and it gave me time to explore the location and speak to people in the Yoruba village.

Have you experienced a movie set in Nollywood?
When I returned last year, I was in a set at Lekki, where they were shooting two movies produced by Emem Isong. The movie featured Genevieve, Majid and so many other actors and actresses, although I was there for about 15 minutes.

With that experience, what can you say about shooting a movie in Nigeria and in USA?
Shooting a movie in the USA, the movement is restricted; location is a bit of a problem over there. Things don’t work the way they do here. Like here a producer can go out on the street and shoot and there’s no problem, people will understand they are shooting a movie and won’t bother them, but in Hollywood, it’s not like that. You have to get permission from the appropriate authority in other to use certain locations. Over there too, you have to be very careful because, if an actor and an actress get hurt or something like that, the law is different from what you have here. In Hollywood, the producer will be held liable to an extent if anything happens to the artistes, so it’s a bit lenient here. The producers have more flexibility to do the things they want to do and to create what they want to create here unlike in Hollywood.

Why are you involved in entertainment rather than in epidemiology?  
I’m an academician. Being in the entertainment industry has always been a passion. When I was a little girl, I knew I was interested in the sciences but I also had a passion for entertainment. To me getting a phd in epidemiology or acting, I feel fulfilled. I’m not getting my education because I hope to make money out of it. I’m getting my education because I feel like with it, one can never go wrong, because what if tomorrow something happens, God forbid, and I’m unable to act, I have a BA, BSC and a Phd to fall back on, so I know I will live a comfortable life even without the entertainment industry.

Do you see Nollywood movies competing with Hollywood movies in terms of quality?
Most definitely! One thing I give our people here is that we are very business oriented and we are fast learners. We are goal getters when it comes to getting quality things. The Nollywood of today won’t be the same in the next 10 years. There are some producers here who, when you watch their movies, the quality is so gripping and they reside here in Nigeria. I think Nollywood will go farther than where it is at the moment in the next couple of years.

Are you in a relationship an when are you marrying?
I’m in a serious relationship with a guy based in the US.  I don’t know how soon we are marrying. I’m not in any kind of hurry at all, so whenever God decides. I leave that in God’s hands.

Lowest moment
Giving in my best for something and not achieving what I want to achieve or not getting the result I feel I should have got.

Highest moment
When I do extremely well in school and in my career too

Best food
I love akpu with egusi and with ugba soup, amala and ewedu
Do you have them in the US?
We don’t. What we have is processed akpu and pounded yam which are not like the real ones.

What can make you cry?
Seeing somebody in desperate need, someday living a very depreciated quality of life, just seeing people suffering can make me cry.

Do you mean you cry walking the streets of Nigeria?
Honestly, I cry internally. I came back to Nigeria for the first time after 12 years last year. I cried a lot and I still cry when I walk down the streets of Nigeria, not only in Nigeria but Africa. I cry seeing people suffer extremely. I cry knowing that there is so much money in Africa yet my people still suffer. Yesterday, while it was raining, I saw a little kid carrying another kid on the shoulder crossing a big gutter. Things like that bring tears to my eyes. I’ll try to adjust and hopefully, one day, things will be better.

Nigeria and American music artistes
American music artistes have more opportunities than the ones here. Even though some of them who made it struggled, some from the ghetto, some not even educated. One thing they have in common with the ones here, especially when it comes to the black artistes, is that they all suffer to get where they are. But to an extent, it’s easier for those in the US, with the fact that the government provides some kind of assistance to poor people. At least, you know you have food to eat and that there are places you can go to and they will give you clothes to wear. You know that the government can pick you up from the streets and accommodate you somewhere. And if the government sees that you are talented, can sponsor you or give you some kind of scholarship and you get to your dreams. Over here, the governments are so corrupt, so they handicap so many of our artistes. So, in order for them to pull through and get to where they are, they have to struggle twice what their counterparts in the US go through. I admire people like P-Square, Timaya, the Yori Yori boys and a good many of them.