‘I Was Literally Shaking’—Ini Dima-Okojie Recounts Scariest Moment in Her Career

Nollywood actress Ini Dima-Okojie has played a number of roles in her long-running acting career and during a new interview with The Will Downtown, is opening up about some of the most challenging ones, and revealing the scariest moment of her acting career.

When asked what the most difficult and challenging of all the roles she's played is, Ini Dima-Okojie said:

INI DIMA-OKOJIE: That’s a difficult question for me to answer because I’m always very, very selective of the roles I do. And I really do try to go for roles that challenge me. And the roles I’ve played, a lot of the roles I’ve played, challenged me in different ways.

For example, Sarah in Blood Sisters was very challenging because of the emotional depth and the vulnerability required. And then there was also my role, which I think was on Prime last year; that one, I had to speak with a different language. I spoke pidgin for most of the film, but I don’t necessarily speak pidgin in my everyday life. But I spoke pidgin, and I also spoke the local language. And that was also a very emotionally tasking character.

Then, speaking of the scariest moment of her career, Ini Dima said:

INI DIMA-OKOJIE: Taste of Love was my acting debut. It was my introduction to the intricacies of building a character. And I remember the first day I shot. I think I shot the very first opening scene. And I remember that day so well.

The director, Uncle Niyi, I forget his last name now but we used to call him Uncle Niyi. He’s been in the industry forever. And I remember I was literally shaking. I was sitting down in the scene, and there was a desk. Luckily, my hands were on a desk. But I was physically trembling. And when the scene was done, I remember the director walked up to me and I was like, oh, my God, I think this guy is about to tell me I messed up. But he actually said that I was great, and it didn’t feel like it was my first time. And I could not believe it because I was literally shaking inside and outside.

But what that also did was it helped to build my confidence because it was a telenovela, and we were filming quite frequently. I was in Ibadan for six months, filming almost every day, so it really made me understand what it was like to be in front of the camera. So everything I had learned from the New York Film Academy, everything I had seen from behind the scenes on Before 30, I could now put to actual practice. And I was shooting a lot. So there was time to literally hone my craft and just learn from everybody around me.

It was amazing. And the level of the cast that was there; everybody was on that show: Shaffy, Blossom, Deyemi Okonlawon. It was a loaded cast, and it was just great to learn from them as well. Gabriel Afolayan, everybody was there. It was a beautiful experience.

What do you think about what Ini Dima-Okojie had to say? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment either below or on my Jide Okonjo Facebook post.

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