NKIRUKA ‘KIKI’ OMEILI I’m Not Searching for theRight Man – a Man Should Search for a Woman

You could describe her as a cross-over artiste and that would not be out of pplace. Althoughg she started out actingg in secondaryy school, Nkiruka ‘Kiki’ Omeili finds ppleasure beingg in front of the camera rather than beingg in the operatingpg room. Tha

I’M NOT SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT MAN – A MAN SHOULD SEARCH FOR A WOMAN

Who is Kiki Omeili? Kiki Omeili is God- fearing;g; downto- earth;; and happy-ppy ggo- lucky.y She’s hard- workingg and ppassionate about work. I love music and movies. I love to singg ( and even rap).p) I am a pperson of integritygy and pproud of my heritage. That’s me I guess. What set are yyou on at the moment? At the moment,, I’m workingg on a movie called,, A Rose For Freddy,y, with fantastic actors like Gregory gy Ojefua,j, Osas Ajibadej and Udoka Oyeka.y The pproducer is Chike Nwoffiah,, a US- based director who also curates a film festival called Silicon Valley Africa Film Festival in California. What’s yyour idea off ‘ old’ and ‘ new’ Nollywood?y I think the term ‘ New Nollywood’y jjust refers to a newer ggroupp of filmmakers ( actors,, pproducers,, directors,, writers)) who entered the industryy and ‘ old Nollywood’y refers to the filmmakers who pprovided a base for the movie industry to grow in the first place. How manyy movies have yyou starred in? Somewhere in the region of 40 movies – inclusive of short films.

Do yyou think the number off movies yyou have starred in have given you the popularity you deserve?

Popularity;py; I think the movie audience mightg be in a better pposition to answer that qquestion. I do myy jjob I’ve never really stopped to question or assess popu - larity.

As an actor is there any role you cannot or may not want to play?py

I wouldn’t want to pplayy a role that would involve blasphemy. I’m pretty much open to anything else.

You once said there are two kinds off ppeoplep in the entertainment industryy in Nigeria;g; those who are ppopularp forf their talent and those ppopularp ffor jjust beinggppopular.p What do you mean byy ‘ jjust beingg ppopular’?p

I mean some ppeoplep are famous for being g famous. You can’t reallyy ppinpointp what it is that theyy do that makes them ppopular.p Theyy are not actors,, musicians,, ppoliticians, designers, writ - ers, producers, or models.

JJust ffor clarity, can you name a particular person?

There’s no pparticular pperson. There are several of such ppeople,p, home and abroad. An examplep of such a pperson abroad would be Paris Hilton. While at home I would not like to mention names. I don’t want trouble. I only give it double to whoever wants it.

How manyy followersf do you have on your social media platforms?p f

That number keepsp ggrowing.g Myy Twitter handle is @ kikiomeili across all social media pplatforms. Interested pparties should pplease ggo and check. Some would be inspiredp to follow if theyy like what theyy see. Sometimes ppeoplep like to do a bit of work/ investigation on their own.

Aside the ffact that yyou a trained medical doctor,, what else would youy have been doingg iff youy weren’t acting?g

I would pprobablyy be a writer. I have been writingg since I was a child and myy mum actuallyy encouragedg me but writingg is so intellectuallyy taskingg and takes upp so much time. I should pprobablyy find the time to do more of that. I actuallyy wrote the story of the film that I produced, ‘ Unprotected’.

Could it be forf anyypphobia yyou abandoned medical practicep ffor acting?g

No pphobia;; jjust a ppassion for the arts. And I didn’t ‘ abandon’ medicine. I actuallyy don’t like it when ppeoplep sayy that. I’m activelyy involved in health advocacyy and awareness. I am a U-reportp advocate ( a UNICEF sub - sidiary)y) and alwaysy lend myy voice to causes such as cervical cancer pprevention. Even my short film ‘ Unprotected’p was to ppromote health awareness;; once a doctor,, alwaysy a doctor. There’s more than one way to prac - tise medicine.

It was qquite an easyy transition ffrom medicine to actingg forf you.y Tell us about it and did youy ever practisep medicine?

I laughg out loud whenevery pppeoplepp sayy it was an easyy transitionfor me from medi cine to acting.g It wasn’t easyy – not at all. It took a lot of doggedness,gg, hard work, pperseverance,, dedication,, ppatience,, determination,, countless auditions and rejections. I’m glad that I made it look easyy though.g That mightg inspirep or encourageg more ppeoplep to ppursue their ppassion. Yes,, I did ppractise brieflyy before I started acting.g It was a yyear of housemanshipp at Universityy Collegeg Hospital,p, Ibadan,, a yyear of NYSC in a local governmentg area health centre and about six months in a private facility before delving into acting. Some sayy actingg doesn’t ppayy much as beingg a doctor. Will you soon return to medicine? That’s not true about actingg not ppaying yg as much as ppractisingg medicine,, especiallyp y in Nigeria.g How much yyou earn as an actor is dependentp on manyy factors. Moneyy has never informed myy career choices. If I were to ggo back to clinical practice it wouldn’t be because of money. What is one thingg youy hold dearly?y I hold myy integritygy and pprinciplesp very y deadly.y I cannot compromisep myy integritygy to fit in or be accepted.p I cannot do without movies! I’m a couch ppotato. I watch all sorts of movies and TV series, both local and international. Beingg that imageg is veryy importantp to many y celebrities what ppressure does it pput on yyou? I wouldn’t sayy that maintainingg a certain Imageg pputs me under ppressure because the imageg that I ppresent is who I really am. So it’s quite easy to just be me. You were born and raised in Lagos,g, how well can yyou speak Yoruba or any other language?g g I speakp Igbog qquite well. Growingg up,p, myy dad made sure that we went to the villageg everyy yyear so I am veryy familiar with the Igbog lan - gguageg and culture. As a matter of fact,, I host a travelogueg in Igbog called,, ‘ Onyey Ije’j which showcases sights and sounds in Igbo land. What’s yyour idea of love and do you believe in love? Love is best expressedp and felt rather than spokenp about. I definitely do believe in Love. You love to singg and know the lyricsy to a lot off songs.g Has it ever crossed youry mind that yyou could ggo into music? No. Thank yyou. Would love to do musi - cals ( stage and movies) but that’s about it. Have yyou ffound the rightg man? I am not searching.g But I hopep ‘ he’ is. I don’t believe that a woman should be doingg the searching.g To search for a wife is a man’s jjob. The Bible says,y , ‘ He’ that finds a wife finds a ggood thing.g That is the ‘ He’ that I’m refer - ring to. What’s yyour hobbyy and what form off sportsp do yyou engagegg in? Myy hobbyy is watchingg movies. I’m a couch ppotato like I said earlier. I swim and run. I’d like to take up tennis at some point.

That’s not true about actingg not ppayingyg as much as ppractising g medicine, especially in Nigeria. How much you earn as an actor is dependentp on manyy factors. Money y has never informed myy career choices. If I were to ggo back to clinical practice it wouldn’t be because of money