By David Ajiboye

One of Ghana’s enterprising actresses, Jackie Appiah, who has featured in a number of award-winning movies both in Ghana and Nigeria, says she is enjoying her work and does not intend to stop acting.

 
The movie star, who was discovered by the writer of Things we do for Love, a popular television series, hinted that she is into acting full-time.

Jackie Appiah is the essence of true African beauty, with a pretty face and dazzling smile. She is among 17 entertainment icons that have been signed by Glo, a telecommunication company to market their brand.

Speaking  in an interview with Africanmoviestar.com Africa Bureau Chief recently, Jackie Appiah admitted that her dream profession was to be a lawyer, not an actress.

Jackie, who is married, explained that acting out a love scene which involves kissing; “Is as complicated as doing a normal scene where you are just talking to somebody”. She recounted a challenging moment in her career where she played two different characters (twins; Maa Afia and Ashley) in the movie, Princess Tyra. This earned her a nomination at the 2008 African Movie Academy Award (AMAA). She also won an award for her role in Beyonce.

Jackie Appiah’s face can be seen on many billboards and in TV commercials, including an advert on protection against HIV/AIDS in Ghana. Jackie revealed that there are always crews on location watching the actors
and actresses so they do not get emotional during extreme scenes. She
added that her husband has no problem with those scenes since she is
just acting.

Jackie Appiah Agyemang was born on December 5, 1983 in Canada, but moved to Ghana with her parents in 1993. Jackie, who was a runner up in the Talent Teens Competition, started acting at the age of 12 in her local church group. Their performances mostly demonstrated the Christian way of addressing and approaching the public.

However, her professional acting career began when she was cast as Enyonam Blagogee in the TV series Things We Do for Love. Following her on-screen debut, Jackie went on to create a successful acting career, including starring in the smash hit movie Beyoncé, alongside prominent Ghanaian actors Van Vicker and Nadia Buari. Her role quickly established her as an A-lister in the industry.

Jackie has cashed in on her A-list status as she has endorsed many products and was the spokesperson for an AIDS/HIV awareness campaign in Ghana. She has won numerous awards, including the prestigious Africa Movie Academy Award (AMAA) for Best Supporting Actress in 2007.

I NEED A WIFE SERIOUSLY, SAYS GHANAIAN STAR ACTOR, KOFI ADJORLOLO
 
By David Ajiboye
 
How Kofi Adjorlolo wished that he had a woman he could call his wife by his side at this time that fame and fortune are beginning to knock on his door.

Doubtless, the 52-year-old popular movie actor, with two failed marriages behind him and two children to raise, has been through some rough times on his way up.
Anyone listening to Adjorlolo’s life story would agree with him that indeed he deserves a break from the hustler that he has been for the most part of his adult life.

“I was a common civil servant earning a meager salary at Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. I worked as a radio presenter from 5.00 am to 5.00 pm and at certain time; I was compelled to do two jobs to make ends meet.

Then I met Metro TV’s Talal Fattal. He was not into his own television station then but financially he sponsored us to come out with a programme, TV Market, by Media Number One”, he said in a chat with www.africanmoviestar.com recently..

That was one of the interventions which taught Adjorlolo that there was light at the end of the tunnel. “Now as an actor, thank God, I’m financially sound as compared to 10 years ago. I’m not emphasizing only on the monetary aspect but now I have the luxury of working under less pressure and less stress than I did in those days”, he said.

Being a successful actor has its own peculiar challenges. “For example,” he said, “I face the challenge of going to town and being immediately noticed. My private life has somewhat been very much reduced and I am obliged to relate to people in a particular way. But my biggest challenge and regret at the moment is not having a wife by my side.”

Recounting how he came into acting, Adjorlolo said it never occurred to him that he will be an actor. “After my sixth form education, I became a professional musician playing with a number of bands including that of Nigeria’s Victor Uwaifo of Joromi fame.

“In between my stay at GBC and working for Media Number One, I was offered a job as a Marketing Manager at Peace FM. After eight months, I was called by the current Ambassador to Benin, Mr E. K. Adu to assist in the establishment of another radio station, now Channel R.

“Later my cousin, Richard Prempeh, the Executive Producer of Taxi Driver asked me to write scripts for the series and possibly join the cast. That is how I entered acting.”

Sounding content with himself, Adjorlolo said judging from his ability to work his way up from the days of Taxi Driver to become one of the most sought after Ghanaian actors by the Nigerian film industry, “I’d say that I’m a good actor. After being in the industry for about six years the reactions I get from my fans and the general public has been encouraging.”

Talking about his film roles and how he gets them, he said he is not auditioned before he gets the roles. “Producers have realized that some of us can do more than we are usually given.

For instance, I did a comedy with Osuofia and Mr Ibu and it worked well, though I don’t see myself as a comedian. I don’t normally audition for roles at this stage of my career. I can play any role given to me and I do it to the best of my ability.”

Adjorlolo would not talk about the financial harvests that acting films in Nigeria has brought him but he disclosed that he was offered as much as $5,000 about a year and a half ago in Abuja to act in one film. “It was a wonderful experience”, he said.

Adjorlolo is the son of Mr Johnny Adjorlolo and Madam Matilda Johnson and the second of three children. Keta is his hometown where he had his early education at AME Zion School, Keta Secondary School and later to Ebenezer Secondary School where he had his sixth form education.

In total, Adjorlolo has featured in about 60 movies within the last six years. These have included Ghanaian titles such as God Loves Prostitutes, Mummy’s Daughter, My Mother’s Heart, Official Prostitutes and Ghana-Nigeria collaborations such as My First Experience, Golden Adventure and Power of the Gods.

He has played alongside renowned actors like Ini Edo, Genevieve Nnaji, Patience Ozorkor, Ramsey Nouah, Emeka Ike, Olu Jacobs and Nkem Owoh aka Osuofia.

Wondering what he does in his free time? Kofi says he enjoys watching movies, playing his guitar and reading. He confesses that nothing will stand in his way to enjoy Akpele and Fetri detsi whenever he can.

He hates flying for many hours or riding in a speeding car. His favorite advice to everyone, especially the youth is “Don’t give up on your dreams or be deterred by the challenges that come your way, but keep your eyes on what you want to achieve.”

BY DAVID AJIBOYE

Sex is gradually becoming the bane of Ghana’s growing movie industry as it has become an impediment between young professional actresses and their career.   According to sources in the movie industry, sex has become one of major problems affecting the smooth progress of the industry as every year, more and more young actresses have to go through the sex ordeal before they can get a role to play.

Those actresses who wouldn’t engage in such an act have to abandon their acting dreams for different careers, hence the domination of the  industry by a few faces.

Some movie producers and directors, our sources disclosed, “have been exporting their bedroom amorous tricks with their wives onto the movie field by demanding sex from these potential young actresses before giving them roles to play. They always tell the girls that big stars in various movie industries around the world also had sex with their bosses before they were able to climb to where they are now.”

L-R: Jackie Appiah, Nadia Buari

The worst of it all is that, after having sex with some of the girls, the producers and directors at times renege on their promises, giving several excuses for their inability to fulfill those promises. While professionally trained actresses are often thrown out because they would not give in to the demands of their ‘bosses’, their colleagues who have not had any form of professional training are quick to surrender because they want to be seen on TV at all cost.

When contacted, Mr. Nii Odoi Mensah, President of the Ghana Actors’ Guild, confirmed the story. He said the issue had come to the Guild’s notice but it was difficult to track down the perpetrators especially as the ladies involved would not like to come out publicly to talk about it.

“In every organization, we have such few bad nuts who would engage in all kinds of activities. It is not nice and I must emphasize that, those involved should stop. A young, beautiful girl once complained to me that a producer wanted to have her in bed before he gives her a role to play but she refused and that was the end for her.”

Mr. Odoi Mensah continued that the problem was one of the contributory factors to the dominance of many school dropouts in the movie industry. “If you look at our industry now, it is full of many school dropouts because of these anomalies. When you look at Nigeria’s industry, it is full of professionals and university graduates,” he said. He therefore called on producers and directors to help bring sanity into the industry, stressing that it is not right to have sex with a lady before giving her a role in a movie, or make young actresses and actors pay for audition and location fees.