Sharon Ooja Opens Up On Mental Toll Of Playing Bipolar Character

Sharon Ooja

Nollywood actress Sharon Ooja has spoken candidly about the psychological and emotional demands of playing a character living with bipolar disorder, calling it one of the most difficult roles of her career.

In an interview on Arise TV, she explained that the role was more mentally draining for her, noting that playing a bipolar character as a normal person required a lot of work.

Ooja shared that the experience gave her deep empathy for people dealing with mental health issues, as she found it exhausting. She recalled how her director would sometimes have to call her out for not staying on tempo and slipping back into a normal state.

She described the role as draining, requiring her to switch between crying, anger, laughter, and many other emotions in one performance. She added that it was one of her toughest roles, especially mentally, which she considers almost worse than physical challenges.

She said:
"I think that because it was more mentally draining for me; when you're a normal person playing a bipolar role, it's a lot of work."

"This gave me so much empathy for people who are actually dealing with mental health issues because it was draining."

"My director would sometimes have to call me because he's like, you're not staying on tempo, you're going to normal."

"So it was so draining having to be crying, angry, laughing, so many emotions in one."

"So absolutely, it was definitely one of the toughest I had, especially mentally, which is, in my opinion, almost worse than physical."