Popular Nollywood actress, Mercy Aigbe-Gentry, tells Ademola Olonilua about her career and relationship with colleague, Funke Akindele
Where would you say you got your looks from?
I would say I got my looks from my mother. If you see my mother’s picture, I am sure you will know the answer to the question.
How would you describe your taste?
When it comes to my taste, I try to be very simple and not overdo it. I can say I am in between. I am not a very simple person and at the same time, I try not to go overboard. I don’t wear things that don’t suit me; I wear thing that I am comfortable in.
How long does it take you to dress?
It depends on where I am going. If I am going to a party, it will take me longer. Basically, I’ll say it takes me about an hour to get dressed. The funny part of it is that if I have somewhere to go, the night before, I’ll bring out like three clothes and some shoes to choose from. So, it makes it easier for me the next morning.
Do you ask your husband to help you choose what to wear?
Yes, I do. Trust me, they are tired of me -my husband and my daughter. My daughter will tell me, ‘Mummy it is okay’ while my husband will say something like ‘Darling, just choose one, they all look great on you’.
What are you working on?
I just released a movie titled, ‘Komfo’. But right now, we are working on the concluding part of my movie, ‘Osas’. It is titled ‘Osas reloaded’. I am also working on a series soap opera that will be in pidgin English and it will also feature some notable faces in the industry.
How did you come up with the idea for your movie, ‘Osas’?
I got inspired on the set of ‘Papa Ajasco’. I was called by Wale Adenuga to be a part of the’ Papa Ajasco’ cast. Before then, I had never done comedy and when I was called, I asked myself if I could really make people laugh. I love challenges; when I was on set, I discovered that people that were behind the camera were laughing. So, it was then I knew I could make people laugh. I wanted to do a movie that I could use to reach out to my people because I am from Benin (Edo State). I just want people to know that there is a girl from Benin here even though I am more popular in Yoruba movies. At the same time, I did not want to leave my Yoruba fans and audience behind, so I just had to fuse the Benin language with Pidgin. I love pidgin. I am an Edo girl, so I love pidgin. After English, I can say pidgin is the next most popular language in Nigeria, so it was fun shooting ‘Osas’. It took me three months to shoot the movie.
Is it true that ‘Osas’ is an imitation of Funke Akindele’s ‘Jenifa’?
I actually heard that before ‘Osas’ came out. I think when people saw ‘Osas’, they had a different perspective. They said it before ‘Osas’ came out when they saw the promo. ‘Osas’ is a comedy and both are played by popular females in the industry. People just assumed. Yes, there are similarities, like the university setting, but I think that is about it.
Is there any rift between you and Funke Akindele?
No, there is nothing like that between us. We spoke about two weeks ago and on her birthday too. We are good friends and colleagues. People just come up with different stories because they know that controversy sells. We are friends.
Why don’t you feature in English movies?
I did not set out to be more popular in Yoruba movies. To start with, I am a thespian; I am a University of Lagos-trained theatre artiste. I can say it is providence. I get called up by English movie producers but anytime they called me, I was always on set shooting a Yoruba movie. With time, because I am also a producer, I will not limit myself to just producing Yoruba movies. We are working on an English movie titled ‘Taken’; we are going on set soon. I started with the English genre; I did some movies before I crossed over to Yoruba and got very popular. I used to tell my husband that when I started with Yoruba, I was not really fluent in the language, not to talk of reading the scripts. But I am good with language and very passionate about my job. With time, I got better and now I am a professional
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