Poverty no longer scares me — Chinedu Ikedieze

Diminutive actor, Chinedu Ikedieze, aka Aki, says that though poverty used to be his greatest fear, it no longer scares him.

He told Saturday Beats, “Obviously, no one would want to dare poverty if one had had a face-off with it in the past (laughs). I work hard every day to keep poverty at arm’s length. I’m sure we (me and poverty) don’t have a relationship anymore.”

The actor also noted that though he and his colleague, Osita Iheme, Pawpaw, played a lot of stereotypical roles in the early years of their career, they were just doing their jobs. He said, “It is nothing. We were just enjoying ourselves as actors. Although some people may call it stereotypical roles, they should understand that we were paid to interpret those roles, and we did that convincingly.”

Speaking about his relationship with the late Ada Ameh, with whom he acted on the popular television series, ‘The Johnsons’, he said, “The Johnsons’, for me, is not just a sitcom but a platform through which we – both the cast and crew – have come together to become a family. This explains how much we mean to one another. Ada’s case was exceptional because as a character, she dominated the family with her motherly role.

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“Ada and I had a synergy on and off screen. In fact, our relationship as friends and colleagues dated back from the years of the movie, ‘Aki Na Ukwa’. She was a very emotional person, jovial, kindhearted, philanthropic, and hated injustice. We miss everything about her.”

Addressing people who criticise actors for flaunting wealth, considering the level of poverty in the land, Ikedieze said, “The truth is that they (actors) make the money and know the weight of their pockets. As such, they choose how to spend it. For me, being benevolent is a natural thing. If one does not have it, one cannot give it.”