Nigerian Movie Star Profile
Ramsey
Nouah
Ramsey Nouah’s face is better known around the black and
African world than the face of the president of Nigeria. Born
in July 1973, his face has sold many Nigerian home movies at
home and abroad. Ladies melt with love for him, especially for
his numerous “lover boy” roles in romantic movies.
This writer has chased him across three continents
just to have this conversation. Ramsey was in the US at the
inauguration of the Filmmakers Association of Nigeria, USA,
and that gave Naijarules.com editor Sola Osofisan an
opportunity to sit him down. Now, let’s unwrap the Ramsey
Nouah you have never seen.
Sola Osofisan: Mr. Nouah, I see you here
in the gym. Do you work out regularly?
Ramsey Nouah: I
try to.
S.O.: And what does it do for you? Is it to
keep the belly in (laughing)?
R.N.: Oh yes. Absolutely.
You have to like stay fit to be an actor actually. You must.
In our profession, you can’t have (a) port belly or a paunch.
It’s not good for the profession at all.
S.O.: The
staying fit aspect of it… Do you need energy to be an actor?
Why is staying fit important aside of the looks and the
physical fitness part of it? Why is it important?
R.N.:
As an actor, there are so many things you can be called to do.
In Nigeria, we’re not big; the industry is not big enough to
have a body double in doing some of your stunts and all that
and some very dangerous parts. But if you’re fit, then you
will be able to go through it. And then if you have the heart
too of course.
S.O.: What’s the wildest stunt you’ve
done?
R.N.: Oh, I can’t remember…
S.O.: Just
tell me one or two that you’ve done.
R.N.: I’ve done
quite a few. I actually tried… Zach Orji directed that one. It
was in Ghana. I jumped from a story building down. Then I
tried to like save a woman from an oncoming car and it was
pretty risky. It was pretty close. And then in “My Lover”, I
was thrown in a 15ft deep well, artificially dug well. What
else? Can’t remember… I’ve done so many stunts: jump, fall,
break, bruises and stuff like that.
S.O.: Its all so
risky. Do you think actors should be doing their own
stunts?
R.N.: I like to do my own stunts.
S.O.:
You love taking risks apparently.
R.N.:
Yes.
S.O.: Is taking risk an outlook of yours to life?
Do you take risks in things that you do?
R.N.: Well,
life is all about risks. In business, physically, however you
wanna put it, it’s all about risks. You take risks sometimes
you don’t even know. Sometimes you do know. The ones you know,
you fear. And if you don’t fear, you go ahead and do
it.
S.O.: And do you fear anything?
R.N.: Yes,
God.
S.O.: What role is God playing in your
life?
R.N.: The role that he made me what I am today
and who I am and whom I will ever be till I die.
S.O.:
Your name, Ramsey… You’re Ramsey Tokunbo Nouah, Jr. Where is
the Tokunbo there from? In addition, explain your
name.
R.N.: Yeah, Ramsey is my father’s name. He’s the
senior. I’m the junior. That’s why you have Ramsey Nouah, Jr.
The Tokunbo was… Of course my grandmother
gave it to me. That’s my mother’s mother. I adopted the name
when I was having problems with Nigerian government because
they needed – for me to get a passport, certain business
registered and all that – they needed to know if I was a true
Nigerian or a foreigner because of the name. So I had to adopt
Tokunbo.
S.O.: But you know you look more foreigner
than Nigerian.
R.N.: Yes.
S.O.: Has that worked
in your favor?
R.N.: Em… I wouldn’t know. A lot of
people believe that colored guys are highly highly endowed as
in God… It’s a mixture of two races and it shows that they’re
always very very healthy and strong. Even scientists said so.
Now, it’s helped me, yes, in that aspect of life. I hardly
ever fall sick. I don’t know, but I hardly ever fall
ill.
S.O.: Has it helped you in your movie career? I
mean the mixed race now…
R.N.: Em, would I say “help”?
S.O.: I really mean has it been useful. I don’t mean
help in the actual sense of the word.
R.N.:
(HESITANTLY). Maybe. Just maybe. As a light skinned fella, you
sort of like cut across somehow very quickly amongst the black
race, you know, in Nigeria. Because I’m light skinned, in
everything people quickly get to notice me. I mean if I walked
alongside most of my colleagues, I’d be picked out by fans
from a distance (before) they will ever pick my other
colleagues like Emeka Ike, Jim Iyke… Because they are dark you
know. Because I’m light skinned, I’m walking along – ah,
that’s Ramsey Nouah. They quickly know me. So, sometimes, it’s
good. Sometimes it’s not.
S.O.: Have you ever felt like
you’re in competition with some of the other big name actors
in any way?
R.N.: Competition, yes, possibly. Rivalry,
no.
S.O.: Okay, maybe competition is for the heart of
the ladies? (Laughter).
R.N.: (Laughing) I really do
not know.
S.O.: They call you “Lover boy”. What does it
feel like? Even right here, there are ladies hanging around
looking at you, waiting for a chance to talk to you… What does
it feel like?
R.N.: Its just the same way they would
like to have a chance to talk to Jim Iyke, Emeka Ike, RMD and
the rest of them. We’re TV personalities. I don’t think
there’s anything special to it particularly (smiling as the
ladies around freak out) that they’re really interested in or
something.
S.O.: But it’s very
flattering?
R.N.: (Playfully modest) Maybe
(Laughter).
S.O.: He’s being very modest. (laughter).
Ramsey, back to your name briefly, there are different
spellings of it. Give us the real spelling of your last
name.
R.N.: Nouah.
S.O.: So there is a “U”
there.
R.N.: There’s “U”.
S.O.: Good. Let’s wrap
up this issue of the mixed race before moving on. Your mom is
from where and your dad is from where?
R.N.: My mom is
from Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria – and my father is
Isreali.
S.O.: And you grew up in Nigeria or
where?
R.N.: I grew up in Nigeria, on the streets of
Nigeria.
S.O.: What streets specifically? Maybe we can
go to that area to pick up the talents that you
have…
R.N.: Ebute Meta for a start. That’s where I
started. Then I moved on to Surulere.
S.O.: Surulere… I
grew up in Surulere too. I never met you.
R.N.: I was
inconspicuous at the time. (Laughter).
S.O.: You walked
into this Ralph Nwadike soap opera and you just walked into
the lap of stardom. And over the years you have grown as an
actor as you got more experience. Tell us the story of your
evolution from that soap opera – was it “Palace”?
R.N.:
No, it was “Fortunes”.
S.O.: I saw that episode when
you came in. I saw the beginning and I see you here today as a
different person. Tell us the story of that evolution
please.
R.N.: Alright. Em… I had this fan… I
still have the fan. She looked at me and said… We get to talk
and laugh a lot and Jill can crack all kinds of jokes. And
then she looked at me and said “Ramsey, you’re just an actor”.
She’s always saying that you know. Sometimes I go ahead and I
tease her and I look at her and I laugh. She said I could act
in one of these soaps in Nigeria. And I said “me, Ramsey? Why
would I want to act in Nigeria? Abeg. If I was going to act at
all, let me be in Hollywood, let me look at my idols at the
time you know: Stallone, Schwarzennegger and the rest of
them”.
She now said something that really motivated
me, something that actually changed my point of view, which
was “Ramsey, charity begins at home”. Now, that’s a very
normal phrase and line. Apparently, it worked perfectly well
for the scenario at the time and I looked at it and I said to
myself, “that’s true. If you’re going to do something at all,
you have to start from somewhere. You have to build it from
somewhere”. Like Johnnie Walker says, “a journey of a thousand
miles begins with a single step”.
I went over to see
her again and said “this soap opera thing, let’s go”. Alright.
We went and we did some few things and all that and that was
in 19990. In 1991, she took me to Ralph Nwadike’s – then, it
was Zeb Ejiro’s office somewhere in Oyekan Street, in Aguda.
And then we walked in and there was this soap going on for
“Fortunes” at the time. It wasn’t running. We we’re about
shooting the pilot. And they said okay they wanted this role
and I performed and Ralph Nwadike just screamed like “this is
the guy I’m looking for. This is the guy I’ve been waiting
for”. Well, I laughed.
S.O.: I can picture him saying
that.
R.N.: And so that started my fame, my stardom,
what I am and what I’ve become today. So we got into the soap.
The soap… We shot a pilot in ’91 but the soap didn’t get to go
on air until like ’93. It ran for just a year due to logistic
problems and all that, and then it became defunct. And then,
about two years thereafter came the advent of home video. And
then I was in (some) home videos.
S.O.: Which was the
very first one you did?
R.N.: Well, I did a few which
were not like major roles (before) I now hit my major, which
was “Silent Night”. After “Silent Night”, I now shot another
major which was “Blind Trust”.
S.O.: A lot of people
remember “Silent Night”.
R.N.: Yeah. It was a fantastic
story and movie.
S.O.: Over the years, you have
exploded in terms of your acting capabilities, range and
depth. How did this come to be? Is it that you have had more
experience or you were able to dig deeper to become
characters? What happened?
R.N.: Fortunately for us, we
shoot movies like no man in the world, you know (laughing). We
churn out movies and that gives you very quick adaptation to
professionalism. I shot quite a number of movies and with each
movie, I grew, became matured and got professional. Now,
within all these times, I learnt along the way mannerisms,
gestures, eye contact, lines, modulation and several other
things that makes you a good actor and makes you deliver
properly. That is how I have come to become what I
am.
S.O.: I look at you and I feel envy. I mean you
have everything: fame, you’re well paid so you have some
fortune, you have a family you’re happy with, and you have all
the girls. (General laughter). What does it feel like to have
everything?
R.N.: (Laughing). It feels good to have
everything. But sometimes, it’s usually not always good to
have everything. Trust me. If you walk a mile in my shoes,
then you would probably hand me back my shoes. (Laughing).
S.O.: Is there anything else you’d like to have that
you don’t have right now? Something you would like to be able
to do that you’re not doing right now?
R.N.: Well, I
wish that I could have my privacy, my life back without the
fame. Yeah, I wish so.
S.O.: Why would you want that
back?
R.N.: Well, because… I don’t know. Somehow, I’m
not enjoying the life of stardom. You have no life. You live
for the people. You live for everybody. You live for
everybody. Nobody thinks about you. Nobody cares about you.
They just want from you. Particularly where I come from where
we do not have enough money and fortunes to take care of
certain needs and stuffs, it’s a bit difficult. Some people
might enjoy it. Some of my other colleagues might like it, but
for me, it’s not really rosy. I just wish I was an ordinary…
Maybe a businessman, a pilot, engineer, whatever… Who gets his
salary, does his work, has his family, and lives a normal life
without the fame.
S.O.: Ramsey, there’s a whole load
of people out there who would like to be what you are
today.
R.N.: Oh yeah, like I said, I would like them to
walk a mile in my shoes.
S.O.: Is this like what… The
price we pay for fame?
R.N.: You could say that. You
could say that.
S.O.: Are you happy?
R.N.:
Yeah, I am. I am. I try to be. (Laughing). I mean I have no
choice. If I think about… It’s not as if its that bad. No, its
not as if the fame is so terrible and all that, its weighing
me down, no. Its just that I wish, I just only wish I could
have my normal life back without the fame. There’s something
about we humans, alright? I long for my life without fame, but
at the same time, if I go out and I’m not being recognized at
certain times, I feel bad sometimes. It’s just the human
nature, but deep down in me, I wish I wasn’t recognized
sometimes in places.
S.O.: So fame is a lot of hard
work?
R.N.: Yes. I mean in Nigeria, yes. From where
were starting from, the recognition we have supercedes what we
have as a financial base. It supercedes it absolutely, so the
fame is a lot much more than what we have.
S.O.: An
initiative like this, the Filmmakers’ Association of Nigeria,
USA, event that brought you to the US hopefully will help
repatriate some of the money spent on Nigerian movies here to
the producers in Nigeria who will now be able to pay actors
better. Is that how you also see the FAN
event?
R.N.: Oh yes, I see the FAN event
without a doubt creating a new avenue, you know… I mean this
is a new horizon to the Nigerian
home video. I wanna thank them most profusely for the
event, for taking this step, the Nigerians who got together in
America to try and make our community and our industry and
culture grow. It’s a big thing. It’s very very big. We’re
hoping. We’re not looking right now at what we will get from
it like financially. We’re not looking at that. We’re just
looking at expanding our horizon away from the African
continent and beyond. That’s what we’re doing. If it does
increase the artistes’ fee, to God be the glory.
S.O.:
Talking about expanding your horizon now, how far do you want
your acting to take you?
R.N.: Oh, take me?
(Laughing).
S.O.: I think you’ve already conquered
Nigeria and Africa. So what else would you like to do as an
actor?
R.N.: Okay, as an actor, I think I’ve gotten to
a point where I’m satisfied and sufficed with what I am and
what I’ve become. As a director, no. I want to direct movies.
I want to make impressions, you know, pictures and do stuffs
like Mel Gibson did with “Passions of The Christ”. He’s an
actor and now he’s directing and he’s a great director. And he
directed “Braveheart” too. It was a fantastic movie.
Tremendous movie.
S.O.: Is this always a natural
progression - for the actor when he gets to a particular point
– to want to become a director?
R.N.: (Laughing) I do
not know. I really can’t speak as regards that. Now, like you
(know), Denzel Washington too has directed too, you know. Its
just that as an actor, if for you, you’re lucky to have a bit
of directorial ability in you, as an actor you see certain
shots from particular points of view that some times, whoever
is directing you will not see and you wished you could ask for
that shot, and you wished you could make that shot possible.
Do you understand me? So, given all these indices, you now
look at it and say ah, alright, let me do it. Let me see if I
can do it myself. With my contribution to the industry in all
these years, I’ve been able to learn things and tricks along
the line. I can very well say when I do go into directing,
I’ll probably become a success.
S.O.: So when will you
go into directing?
R.N.: When God calls.
S.O.:
And when God calls, what would we be seeing differently from
your directorial perspective? What would you be doing
differently from what they are doing right now?
R.N.:
Well, as it were, virtually everything is done. What would
probably be different would be your story…your storyline.
Technically, I mean God! What else? Except I want to go
sci-fi. (Laughing). And we don’t have that yet in Nigeria.
S.O.: Ramsey, you speak Yoruba?
R.N.:
Absolutely.
S.O.: Say something to us in
Yoruba.
R.N.: Ba’wo le se wa? Ki lo n happen? (General
laughter)
S.O.: Your new movie, Tade Ogidan’s
“Dangerous Twins”, is hyped all over the place. I hear there
are huge billboards all over the place. I hear they’ve already
spent 4 million Naira at least on publicity alone. Tell us
about it.
R.N.: Tade is one hell of a risky businessman
and director, but I like him. He’s a fantastic director. In
fact, I could say categorically, that he’s the best director
in Nigeria – technically and artistically. It’s very rare for
you to get a mixture of both in a director in Nigeria. They
only have good technical director or a good artistic director.
But having a mixture of both is rare and Tade is one of those
directors that are like that.
And he’s also a very
risky businessman. Tade is putting so much and everything he
has in that movie. We’ve always known him to be like that
because even when he did “Hostages”, he sold his father’s cars
and he almost sold his father’s house under him too to
publicize the film. But one thing I know about him is that he
believes so much in himself, which of course is a stepping
stone, which of course is a great way of putting yourself in
confidence that “yes, I know what I’ve done. I know if I even
take everything I’ve got, I will get it back because I’ve done
something good”.
“Dangerous Twins” is an awesome
movie. It’s off the hook. Its beyond the Nigerian imagination,
beyond the Nigerian movies that you’ve already seen and all
that. I’m not boosting this movie out of its proportion in any
way. I’m saying it categorically that even when some of maybe
Hollywood’s very good, technically strong director sit down
and watch “Dangerous Twins” and they hear its from Nigeria,
Africa, they will probably stand up and give it an applause
because its quite a good movie. It’s the first movie of its
kind in Nigeria where you see two characters – I mean two
guys, the same guys, standing one in one –
S.O.: Yes,
the promotional CD was brought to me by some of our guys who
came in from Nigeria. How did you guys achieve the effect of
Ramsey talking to Ramsey?
R.N.: Well, I don’t know.
(Laughing) It’s Tade’s trick.
S.O.: Okay, acting-wise,
how did you achieve it? I mean you had to play the other twin,
the mannerism had to be different, the acting and expressions,
not just the costumes… What was that like for you playing two
people in the same scenes simultaneously?
R.N.: That is
the most demanding job I have ever done in my 14years in this
industry. It was so tasking. It was so so exhausting. You know
I was – I don’t know if I can explain it to you and you will
probably understand. We’re talking about you standing on this
side and talking to an empty space, right? You have a
different costume here and a different make-up. And then you
have different gestures and different mannerisms.
Now,
you come back – on the same shot! You do not change the shot –
you go change to the other guy, come back here and answer to
everything this guy has said. And then you change back to that
one… That scene probably takes you a whole day. The scene
where the two characters are involved, it takes you like a
whole day. So sometimes you have to take a break because it’s
so so demanding. I doubt if I will ever play a twin
again.
S.O.: Someone said to me that you said in
passing – and you just confirmed it now – that the role in
“Dangerous Twins” is the most challenging thing you’ve ever
done. Is it just because you had to transit from one character
to another that makes it so challenging, or the range of the
characters now?
R.N.: The range of the characters
themselves. Yeah, physically, it was quite exerting, but now
I’m talking about the range of the characters because that way
of course you show your ability, your versatility as an
actor.
S.O.: And you shot scenes in the UK for several
weeks?
R.N.: Yeah, we shot in different parts of the
UK.
S.O.: Then you shot in Nigeria too.
R.N.:
Yes.
S.O.: This is the first time you’re working with
Tade Ogidan. What are you taking away from the experience
that’s different from what you’ve done with all the other
people you have worked with?
R.N.: I’m taking away
another side of professionalism. Tade taught me a lot on set.
He is a very very patient director. He is not in a hurry to
achieve and get the best. That also goes to say that possibly,
you can also say that he has the money to take his time. But
even if he doesn’t have, he will still take his time. And
that’s one attribute I’ve learnt. It’s better to be calm, take
things easy and get the best than rush and then bring out some
rubbish.
S.O.: Wrapping up now Ramsey. There’s a lot
of crossover work going on. People are doing Yoruba movies,
doing this and that. I don’t know if you’ve done any. I’ve
never seen you in any.
R.N.: I’ve done a Yoruba movie.
I was the first crossover actor from English to the Yoruba
sector. And it was a tremendous success. I’ve been called
several times after that, but because I saw that it was very
successful, I now said to myself, its better for me to shoot
my own Yoruba film and make the money instead of me making the
money for all these producers. And so I refuse to do other
Yoruba movies. That’s why.
S.O.: This is your first
time in the US?
R.N.: Oh yes. My first
time.
S.O.: Have we treated you right? Have you had fun
here so far?
R.N.: (Laughing). Well, you could say I’ve
had fun. I’m still trying to adapt to (US time) jet lag and
all the rest of it, but I know I will adapt to it. It’s fun.
America is not like Heaven like most people think in Nigeria.
Its everywhere, you know. I’ve been around… I’ve been to some
parts of the world and this is my first time in America and I
could say America is just like one of those other countries
I’ve been to. Nothing spectacular.
S.O.: And the fans
here… Are they any different from the fans in Nigeria? Are we
crazier?
R.N.: Well, yes. The fans in Nigeria are
already used to me, so they don’t go “Aggghhhhh!” over me like
that, you know (Laughing). The ones here are not used to me
and they just see me in the movies and now they see me in life
so I expect a reaction. It’s okay, yeah.
S.O.: You
have a wife?
R.N.: I do.
S.O.: What’s your
wife’s name?
R.N.: Emelia Philips-Nouah.
S.O.:
And you have a son? Daughter?
R.N.: A son.
S.O.:
What’s his name?
R.N.: Quincy Camil Nouah.
S.O.:
I know that information is going to break some hearts out
there…
R.N.: (Laughing). No, if I had the chance and if
I had the money, I would actually marry all my fans. (More
laughter).
S.O.: Ramsey, just say anything you like to
your fans out there in the international community. Remember
that they are all over the world.
R.N.: Oh yes. To all
my fans, to all my loved ones out there, I wanna thank you.
Like I’ve always said, without you, there is no Ramsey Nouah
and that’s a fact, for real. I wanna tell you that you have to
believe in something. When you believe in that thing, never
give up on it, and that way, you will have a breakthrough. We
all need a breakthrough in our lives. Everybody needs a
breakthrough. Thank God for me, I have my breakthrough
already. I know you will get yours if you just believe in it.
Thanks and Shalom!
S.O.: Thank you Ramsey.
R.N.:
You’re welcome Sola.
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