‘We Were Very Authentic,’ Stella Damasus Recalls Nollywood Memories

Nollywood veteran, author, coach, and singer Stella Damasus has identified authenticity as a defining quality that set her generation of leading female actors apart during the early era of Nollywood.

The veteran actress, whose career has spanned decades across stage and screen, said she and her contemporaries stood out because they remained true to themselves rather than trying to imitate others.

“We were very authentic,” Damasus said on the Pulse Old vs New show. “We were not trying to be like other people. We’re not trying to copy other people or be who we’re not. Everything was authentic.”

Damasus, who authored the book Mama It’s a Girl, further added that she, like the other big three actresses, Genevieve Nnaji and Omotola Jalade Ekehinde, in the early days of Nollywood, had no idea how far and how big they would later become from doing what they passionately enjoyed doing.

“I’m going to assure you, we were not doing it because of the fame or the money. There was no social media to tell us how big we could get. We did not know,” the veteran said.

“After you see yourself on a poster, that’s about it. People will recognise you here and there and all of that at that time. It wasn’t about the fame. It wasn’t about the money. How much were they paying us?”

“We just loved the job. It was more about passion.”

This screengrab shows Stella Damasus as a guest on Pulse Old vs New (Photo: YouTube/Pulse Nigeria)

The prominent screen actor recalled how tough and daring it was for any female to be seen as an actor.

“At that time, it wasn’t easy for females at that age to be allowed by parents and families to enter the industry,” she said. “So those of us who could were bold.”

Damasus admitted that the movie ‘The Widow’ from 2005, where she played the role of a grieving wife subjected to intense emotional and physical degradation by her husband’s relatives following his sudden death, was one of her most challenging roles, one of the biggest because it changed her career overnight, both at home and abroad.

“But I’m grateful for the role because I saw what could happen, and then it did happen,” she added.

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