What Rita Dominic and Mildred Okwo did for me – Linda Ejiofor
Do you ever get to watch Tinsel, the soap opera on DSTV Channel 151? If you do and happen not to love the cantankerous character called Bimpe Adekola, I advised you not to meet Linda Ejiofor, the young lady who plays the role. If you do, take my promise that you would not go back the same way you came. There is something totally disarming and delectable about this sociology graduate who has finally fallen in love with acting. She tells eelive inthe following interview how it all started, the influencers of her career and her aspiration for the future.
You seem to have found your niche in acting, from modelling to acting now, tell us how the journey has been for you.
The journey has been okay, good, successful, I thank God. Seven years ago, I did not see myself acting, because I always wanted to work in an advertising agency. I was modelling and I saw what advertising agencies had to go through to put ideas together, to make a product get on Television and that was all that I was interested in. However by the special grace of God and with friends, I was introduced to acting. The journey has been wonderful, I have no regrets whatsoever. I am glad I made the decision to move into acting, although that does not mean I have stopped modelling as well.
How did it all start, modelling and acting?
Modeling started because people kept telling me things like “you could model; you have the face for it.” Because I am not that tall, I said I would rather do commercial modelling, so I started going for auditions and I got a few modeling jobs. Then a friend told me about an M-Net job, she said M-Net was shooting a series, I said “sorry I cannot do it because the last time I tried acting, my father pulled me out of University of Ibadan (UI) Theatre Arts” She convinced me and asked me to give it a try, she suggested that I could do it for a few months while waiting for my National Youth Service Corp posting , so I decided to give it a try, I went for the audition and fortunately for me, they picked me and the rest is history.
You studied Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan?
Not exactly. This was what happened, while I was waiting for school (JAMB results), my brother who was in UI bought me a Theatre Arts Diploma form. It was a 3-6 months Diploma course and we thought that instead of staying at home idling away, I could at least acquire that. It was in the middle of the course when my results were released and my father said: “you passed, go to University of Port Harcourt (UniPort) and study Sociology”. I told him I liked the course but he insisted that I move to Port Harcourt. To be honest, I had chosen University of Port Harcourt and Sociology with the hope that it would put my father off. I thought that he would agree with me that Port-Harcourt was far and allow me remain in UI. Unfortunately for me my father liked Uniport and he asked me to go. I am a graduate of Sociology. I was in Uniport for four years and it was after graduation that I got into modeling and then, Tinsel.
Seven years down the line, what has acting done for you?
It has changed me a whole lot; it has made me see different sides of people. As my character develops, I get to watch more people every day, I get to do research about people, about how to make the best of the roles that I take. So I am learning from acting as I get new roles, I try to learn from, people’s experiences, people’s mistakes, and lives. Acting has made me a better person; it has helped me to understand people more.
Your father did not want you to model and act, how does he take all of this now?
I give that to my mother, she is a woman who understands being independent. I sat her down and spoke with her explaining how important this was to me. How I was finding fulfillment, how I would not need to stay at home job hunting and how I don’t want to bother them about money. I pleaded that they should just let me do my own stuff and I that would not disappoint them by the grace of God. She saw reason with me and then talked to my father and told him “she’s a grown girl, we have trained her to be independent so let her do it, if she does anything wrong we would bring her back to the right path” and so on. My father then approved that I could go on with it and now he is a proud father.
What were they afraid of, you said you promised not to disappoint them that suggests that they had some concerns and expectations?
You know parents what they watch and hear about the industry, about society made them feel that society would change you, the people you hang out with would change you, what you do with yourself would change you. So he was thinking that society would change me that I could end up being a wayward child or something
But you haven’t turned out to be a wayward child, have you?
No o
Why?
It’s God and I keep thinking of where I am coming from. This is the promise I made to my parents, friends and myself so I don’t want to break that promise. I am guided in everything that I do or say, about everywhere that I go.
Do you see things that would lead you astray?
I have been lucky, I have not seen any.
Acting has opened your eyes to know people more, you have mentioned God a couple of times, how has the God thing helped you?
I am a Christian; I was brought up in a Christian home, my father made sure that we remember God first so I was trained to put God first in anything I do.
Tinsel, The Meeting, I assume that having been in the industry for about seven years, you must have a plan about what you really want to do in a number of year?
Yeah, everyone has a plan. When you make plans for yourself, God has His own plans. I did not plan to be an actress but I turned out to be an actress. I have seen where acting has taken me and in a few years, I would love to go to school to study directing and more on acting.
Do you plan to produce your own movie at some point?
Yes, produce and direct my own movie.
Bimpe Adekoya in Tinsel almost carefree girl and Ejiro in The Meeting, which of the characters is closer to you?
Ejura is more of a cheeky intelligent, outspoken girl while Bimpe is unserious, I always sum up Bimpe’s character as a dump blonde, I don’t fall into that category at all but the only trait I take from Bimpe and Ejura is the cheeky part. I am down-to-earth but I won’t say I am outspoken. Ejura is the kind of person that would tell you her mind immediately even if she is meeting you for the first time but I would wait, watch and see the kind of person you are before I say something that might put you off or get you angry. But one thing I would take from the two characters is the cheekiness.
I said this to you earlier I used to dislike the character of Bimpe but you seem to have succeeded in making so many people eventually fall in love with Bimpe, people think you play the Bimpe role very well, how did that happen?
To tell you the truth, I hated Bimpe too. In the first two seasons I kept complaining to the writers to make me like Telema the good girl. It was Kemi Adesoye, one of our writers that called me and said: “Linda the only way you can enjoy your acting and make people watching enjoy you is if you love the character. Try and understand her, think about why she is the way she is and enjoy it.” So I went home and did some research and watched some movies about stupid, dump blondes especially when I became Brenda’s PA. I had to watch movies that had PAs in them, I watched “Ugly Betty” “Devil Wears Prada” “Legally Blonde”, and so. Soon, I started loving Bimpe and I looked forward to the next script I would read and looked forward to shooting the scene. If you watch previous seasons and now you will find out that I have actually improved. Everyone has improved on their acting.
As for Ejiro, I kept reading for what she is supposed to be like. I would always give Mildred Okwo(Director of The Meeting) and Rita Dominic kudos, I cannot stop thanking them because they gave me the opportunity to showcase my capacity to be another character aside from Bimpe. They gave me that very rare opportunity. Most people would rather not put all their eggs in one basket by giving the role to a young, upcoming actress but they did and I would be forever grateful to them. Rita Dominic would call me and tell me this is how the character is, think about it like this. Mildred did a lot of readings together with Femi Jacobs. Rita and I would sit and read together. Mildred would tell me what she thinks and what she wanted from me and if I had any ideas concerning the character, I could bring it up to her and if she thinks it’s cool we can work with it. She always wanted you to give 100% of yourself, no cheating.
You and Femi Jacobs were in Tinsel but you never acted together so how did the chemistry work in The Meeting?
Again I have Mildred to thank. I can remember the first day that Femi and I did a reading together, she asked us to sit and read. While reading, she said I need to see if you guys have chemistry so she asked us to stand up. We stood up looking at each other and we were far apart with blank faces. She asked us to each take one step forward and we did, when we were close like nose to nose, she said: “when you people are ready, you would do whatever you want to do. Whatever you are comfortable with even if you want to go back and sit but take your time” She left us there. We kept staring at each other, then I started smiling and Femi joined me, we connected that way and started reading together, chatting and we started building the chemistry.
Did you learn anything from each other?
Yeah, Femi is a fantastic actor, we could be running lines, I could pronounce a word and Femi would say it’s not that way and this is what it means. We would try it again and it works. And he took the same from me. We drew energy from each other, you know there are some people that you act with and you cannot get anything but in the case of Femi it was different.
Your fans would love to know more about you, tell us about yourself, family background, education, career choice, and upbringing.
I am Linda Ejiofor close friends and family call me Ihuoma, it has different meanings, literally it means ‘fine face’, I choose it to mean ‘God’s good thing’ I am the second child of five children. I attended Labo Memorial Nursery and Primary School, Lagos, then my parents bundled me to Federal Government Girls College, Onitsha. I went on to University of Port-Harcourt to study Sociology and I graduated in 2007. I served in Jigawa State, there was no Boko Haram then, the people were nice and we had fun. After youth service, I did not go searching for a job because I was already modeling so I came back to it and then acting came up.
Tell me about your childhood days, how you were brought up, what are the things that you remember about your upbringing that keep you now?
I was really happy as a child. I remember that my mother was the one beating us, we were not allowed to go outside and play because of kidnappers. I remember always seeing my father laughing, joking and if we were awake when he returned from work, he read folk tales to us. I am hoping that one day, I would get a recorder and sit my father down to tell me some of those tales again because I would love to read such things to my children in future. The folk tales had traditional songs which my father would sing to us and I was always happy.
What role has been most challenging for you and why?
Actually the two major roles I have mentioned because those are the roles people have watched and they have commented about. In Tinsel, Bimpe was a gradual process, people did not really criticise me but for Ejura, it was more challenging than Bimpe because Bimpe is an everyday thing but with Ejura, I had to come out of it and go back to being Linda so I think Ejura was more challenging because I had to be very outspoken which is not me.
Who are your role models and why are they your role models?
My role models are my parents because of the way they brought me up and the virtues they instilled in me. Even before I got a part in The Meeting, I loved Rita Dominic so I would forever look up to her. I look up to the older actress as well, Joke Silva, Liz Benson. Mildred Okwo since I want to be a director, Tope Oshin Ogun and Michelle Bello. Outside Nigeria, I love Eva Longoria.
What’s it about Rita Dominic that you admire?
Just her persona, you would never hear anything bad about her, the first day we met she was so good, nice, down-to-earth, sweet and always smiling. And she is like me, when I saw her, I felt like TV makes people look ten times bigger, she’s so petite and portable.
What is your philosophy in life?
Be good to the people you meet on your way up because you will definitely meet them on your way down.
Has this philosophy worked for you?
I think I have been good to everybody I am meeting on my way up, even my fans because they are the ones keeping me in the industry
What do we expect from Linda in years and months to come?
In months, more jobs, movies in the cinema, premieres, school, directing and at some point, producing my own film. Definitely, I would settle down one day.
What is the thing that you have not told anybody?
I cannot think of one right now because there is a camera in front of me.
You have been in the industry for seven years what is your take on where we are now and where we are going?
Some people call it the New Nollywood where it is now and where we are heading is totally different. There are improvements, the stories are getting better, directing, casting everything is on point. I think one day we would get to where the music industry is or even surpass them. We were there before the music industry and they are doing it better than we are. We have young directors, actors, coming up every day.
Finally, seven years on I have not heard anything bad about you how have you managed to handle that?
I think it’s more of the virtues instilled in me by my parents. I always ask myself if anything that I am going to do will make me happy and what would I benefit from it so that is what has kept me to be scandal free.
Culled from our archives
