Life Of An Actor And Filmmaker.

Everybody has this mentality that an actor doesn't stress himself out, it is the most easiest profession and many of you will even insult any actor you think is not doing Well on screen, there is a saying that says you won't know what the other person feels until you are in his or her shoes. well, here are few things you should know about Actors and Filmmakers like us.

ACTORS ARE INTERPRETERS

To be a good Actor you must be able to interpret a character given to you, you are expected to bring a dead character to life, and you can only do that when you leave yourself completely and put on that particular character. For example, "you are a normal human being in real life but the script says you should act like a mad man, you can not act like a mad man looking normal, you must make anyone watching you believe you are truly mad without any suspicious traces. Anything little trace in your act that shows you are not a mad man renders you unprofessional completely.

You can attest that most times you watch "Patience Ozokwor" or "Kanayo O. Kanayo" you completely believe Patience Ozokwor is a wicked person or Kanayo is a real ritualist and you even tend to hate them forgetting it is a movie and it's not their real self's out there. Now that happens because Patience Ozokwor and Kanayo have played their role perfectly by bringing a dead character to life, so that gives you that real feeling without any traces of doubt.

You can also attest that most atimes you watch a movie and you see someone who doesn't interpret his character well, you get bored and even insult the person or change your channel, in most cases that person is either an upcomer or hasn't undergone lethal training. So you tend to see his or her mistakes and you even say " what is he even doing? I will do better than him self" but the truth remains, if you were given that role you would flop harder than him.

Most people refer to actors as spiritual people, well me in particular believes "Acting Is Highly Spiritual" because just like a ghost invades you and make you do what it wants, Acting invades you and make you do what the script says.

We also have 2categories of Actors.

A STEREOTYPE ACTOR

A stereotype Actor is an actor that is one legged, by that I mean, an actor who doesn't act outside a particular character, he or she remains confined to a particular Character, when you put her or him outside that character you completely see what a mess he is and you would completely hate him or her.

That is why it is perfect to watch Mr Ibu (John Okafor) in comedy movies than in serious movies, you would completely hate him. Most of this actors have understood their area of specialization and professionalism that they don't force Thier self out of there, they remain where they fit better and receive accolades. It's same thing with comedians, we have comedians who are actors and stand up comedians, when an actor comedian does stand up comedy for you, you hate him but when he acts it he becomes the best comedian for you.

VERSATILE ACTORS

Unlike stereotype actors, versatile actors can fit in any role, when I say any role I mean any role. They are good at what they do, You can completely without fear call Mercy Johnson, Genevieve Nnaji, Kate Henshaw, Ramsey Noah e.t.c versatile actors, because since they started and even now they can interpret any role given to them perfectly, without unprofessional traces and many upcomers look to them as role models.

Their versatility is what has kept them in the game till now, and Nollywood can not do without their likes, it still needs them to refer those upcomers to. Most directors and producers don't like to stress themselves with their money so they go for the best, which are the versatile ones because they will give them what they want without stress.

Now you should also know professionalism, Unprofessionalism and versatility are 3 different things.

A PROFESSIONAL ACTOR

An actor can be a professional and not versatile. Looking at the first example I gave about Mr Ibu, Mr Ibu is a born comedian, when he acts comedy you can NEVER leave a trace, But he can not act a serious movie. Because he is not versatile does not mean he is not a professional, remember I said, a professional actor never leaves trace, Mr Ibu is a professional Comedy Actor but he is not versatile. While and unprofessional actor is neither versatile nor professional. He is just on the fence. an actor can be versatile and professional, an actor can be professional but not versatile.

Watch out this space for Part2, we will be talking about the crew members and their relationship with the actors.

I hope you have learned a new thing about Actors today though.

Article title: Life Of An Actor And Filmmaker 
Date: 19-03-2022
Author: Kisven Aaron