Rita Dominic has not only made her name as a frontline Nollywood figure, she has also become a role model and ambassador of some sort. Born of parents with different citizenship, Rita is one lady, who has won the hearts of many with her brilliant interpretation of roles in and outside of Nigeria.

In this interview with Gbenga Bada, Rita had so much to say about her upbringing, career, passion and temper.

Little has been heard about you until recently. What has been happening to you in recent time?

Well, it's been a whirlwind of events, I just got back from Malawi, where I went for an AfricaMagic promotional tour sponsored by Multichoice and it was a way of rewarding our fans and meeting them one-on-one and it was a pleasant experience. I also got engaged with the charities and was able to do something I love doing whenever I'm chanced and that is giving back to the society.

What was the tour really all about aside the promotion of Multichoice and AfricaMagic?

I think it was in the form of creating an avenue for the people of Malawi, who are great fans of Nollywood, to meet one of their well loved Nollywood stars from Nigeria. So, it was a way for Multichoice to give back to the Malawians. AfricaMagic just clocked five and it was all part of creating awareness and basically say thank you to the Malawians

Why did you think you were chosen over your other colleagues?

I don't know but I think they carried out a poll in Malawi to know which of the Nollywood stars they would really want to hang out with. I think somehow, my name topped the list and that was it.

What would you say makes you unique ahead other colleagues?

The truth is that I don't know what makes me unique or differentiates me from my colleagues. This is because we have very talented actors and actresses in Nollywood, so one can't really say this is what differentiates me. All I can say is that it just happens and people just talk about me.

What has been happening to your acting career, what is responsible for all the silence?

I haven't been acting as much as I used to do in the last two years. I have actually cut down on my workload because I want to get involved in more challenging roles that would stretch me as an actor. That is what I have been doing in recent times.

I won't say I was completely out of the scene because you have to understand that this is my 11th year in the industry. If I'm not selective with the kind of work that I do now or at this period in my career, that means I haven't learnt anything in the last 11 years. So, basically, in the last two years, I told my management that I need to reduce my workload and do only challenging movies and that's what I've been doing. I do commercial movies once in a while and I have been working with Izu Ojukwu a lot and I did one in Niger State too. We don't have too many good scripts out there and I think at this point of my life I should be selective.

Since you took this decision, how would you compare the flicks you have acted in?

I still hold some of the scripts dear to my heart because I can't say this is a movie I love or that I don't love. This is because every character I have played is challenging. As a result of this, I hold all the films that I've done and the ones that are yet to be produced very dear to my heart because they are all different.

What do you think helped your career blossom as much as it did?

When we all came into the industry in the late 1990s, we were people who simply had passion for the arts because then the money wasn't there and it wasn't as glorified as it is now. We just loved doing what we were doing then. But when you do something consecutively, you want to be recognised and although it was initially a passion for the arts, after a while I left the industry for two years, only to come back in 2003. A lot of people thought I was a new face but those who had been there all along knew that I wasn't. But it's the passion for the job that comes first and every other thing would fall into place

What would you term as not good about the profession having enjoyed a successful career, which has brought fame and fortune?

The not good part of it is that my life is now a public affair. I've lost my privacy that's why I keep some things to myself. Initially, when I got into the industry, I had a lot of problems with the privacy thing and the press weren't even making things easy. But at a point, I had to find a way to accept and balance it because the truth is if you are not good at what you do, people would not recognise you or talk about you. I just decided to keep the job I love doing because whether I like it or not, people would talk.

When you started in the late 1990s, you were believed to have enjoyed a smooth ride to the top because of your relationship with Jim Iyke, which was the talk of town. How true is that? Continued    Source: nigeriafilms.com - Nigeria Films