British actress talks her way into Nollywood.

Record ID: 103415

  • Title: British actress talks her way into Nollywood.
  • Date: 17th May 2016
  • Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BRITISH ACTRESS CLAIRE EDUN WALKING INTO A BUILDING JUDGES AT AN ACTING AUDITION LAUGHING VARIOUS OF CLAIRE TALKING TO JUDGES VARIOUS OF CLAIRE HANDING OUT FLYERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH NOLLYWOOD ACTRESS, CLAIRE EDUN, SAYING: "I never actually thought it. No! It was since I started to learn pidgin, I always thought that will be really cool to be able to now use the pidgin, which I really enjoy anyway, and then be able to use the acting skills that I have learnt as a career, I mean I can't really think of any better job than doing something that you love. So, yeah, I didn't really think it was going to be possible but we're here."
  • Embargoed: 1st June 2016 16:05
  • Keywords: Nollywood British Actress Pidgin English Culture Oyinbo Princess
  • Location: LAGOS, NIGERIA
  • City: LAGOS, NIGERIA
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014I740UV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: New Nollywood star Claire Edun walks into an audition venue in Surulere - Nigeria's hub for actors and producers, to hand out flyers promoting her debut film.
    The blonde-haired Brit is fluent in Nigerian pidgin and when she speaks, it is always a source of amusement.
    Popularly known as 'Oyinbo Princess', which means 'White Princess' in the local dialect, Claire, a former British Airways flight attendant taught herself pidgin by watching Nigerian movies and together with a love for acting and drama, she says it became a winning combination for a career in Nollywood.
    "I never actually thought it. No! It was since I started to learn pidgin, I always thought that will be really cool to be able to now use the pidgin, which I really enjoy anyway, and then be able to use the acting skills that I have learnt as a career, I mean I can't really think of any better job than doing something that you love. So, yeah, I didn't really think it was going to be possible but we're here," she said.
    Claire stars in a romantic comedy called ATM - an abbreviation for Authentic Tentative Marriage, about a Nigerian man, played by popular actor Alexx Ekubo, who marries her character, 'Amilla' so he can move to Britain.
    But Claire's entry into Nollywood happened unexpectedly after a friend shared a video of her speaking pidgin on social media.
    The clip was seen by top Nigerian movie director Lancelot Imasuen, who then called her up and offered her a role in his new production, ATM.
    "She is a white woman with black blood inside of her, it flows in her, she speaks it and like she continues to tell everyone the people is the love she has for this country, the people are so warm so the reception I saw was what we gave back," said Imasuen.
    "The thing is sweet, I cannot complain, as in I am learning something everyday so I feel that Nollywood has actually enriched my life so each day I like to go into the scene whether it be we're doing premiere or we are filming or we are reading scripts I always like to be calm and learn, so the experience has been great I cannot complain, as in very very good," said Claire.
    Brimming with life, playful and illustrative, Nigerian Pidgin English lends itself well to creativity, evolving quickly and readily borrowing from daily life and events.
    It took two years for Claire to master the language, which is spoken by millions in Nigeria and has variants in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
    Claire's friends are no longer impressed by how easily she speaks pidgin but her new found fame in an industry that enjoys a cult following amongst Nigerians has made them some of her biggest fans.
    "My reaction when I saw, first of all before I saw the movie I saw the post on Instagram so I was like okay maybe this is one of the Hollywood Nollywood collaborations and then I saw the trailer and I'm like, okay this is different and this is really good," said one friend.
    The 31-year-old lives with her Nigerian husband in Portsmouth. During the filming and promotion of ATM she lives in Lagos - a teeming city she considers her home away from home.
    But Lagos - a city of 20 million people and sweltering heat that runs mostly on generators owing to a crippling electricity shortage, took some getting used to even for this lover of all things Nigerian.
    "The heat! I cannot complain too much because I know that is how Nigeria is but it is basically the heat that is my personal challenge, when we're shooting certain scenes and the generator does not work, the lights are also not working, everyone is just numb... those are the challenges," said Claire.
    Schmoozing Nollywood royalty, Claire is now a fully fledged celebrity, attending premieres and posing on red carpets.
    Her movie opened this month to rave reviews, with a UK launch planned for the ample Nigerian community living there.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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