My Experience With Genevieve -Bobby Obodo

Michael Bobby Obodo, a Nigerian actor based in Canada, has described his first acting experience with Nollywood screen goddess Genevieve Nnaji and other top rated Nigerian actors as nerve-racking.

Obodo is the founder and CEO of Nigerian Youths for Change and a youth/community organization in Toronto, Canada called ALL IN.

He is also a political activist, a boxer and a writer. He does more political analysis via his write-ups on various political platforms in Africa and Canada. Obodo is the first Nigerian politician with tattoos and made an entry into Nollywood about a year ago.

Currently, he is described as the latest sensation in Nollywood. His unique personality, coupled with his passion and talent for acting, is the reason many Nigerian movie observers say he is getting more movie roles and working with reputable production houses in Nigeria.

Obodo has already starred with top guns in Nollywood and Ghana one can think about. Among them are Genevieve Nnaji, Ini Edo, Monalisa Chinda, Ramsey Nouah, Desmond Elliot, Uti, Lydia Forson, Uche Jombo and Van Vicker.

The actor, political activist, writer and boxer was in Ghana sometime last week and told NEWS-ONE that his first acting job in the movie ‘We Can't  Get Away’, directed by Desmond Elliot, was a real daunting task for him.

This was because he was working with already accomplished stars like Genevieve Nnaji, Ramsay Nouah, Ini Edo, Monalisa Chinda, Beverly Naya, Uti Nwachukwu and others who were not ready for any dull acting skills from him; but he tried to prove a point. 

“The experience on that set was really crazy. That was like a nerve-racking experience because it was like a bunch of these top stars, and I think for some reason the production was put on hold for a day because they were waiting for me. So everybody was like ‘who the hell is this guy from Canada?’ Expectations were incredible; some were asking ‘what movie has he done before, who is he to keeps us waiting?’ When finally I came, you know that look when people look at you as if they are asking ‘is he for real’. They were a family because I know Desmond, Ini and others but the scrutiny was just too much. I could not misspeak, or else if I did, like everybody will probably walk off the set (he laughs),” he said.

He credited his stint with Nollywood to Ini Edo, who coaxed him into returning home to support the industry by way of also acting.

“I like the fact that we are doing well as an industry. So when Ini told me to come down, I was like let me give it a try,” Bobby told NEWS-ONE.

Currently, he has already done five movies, playing lead roles and major supporting roles. He is the hottest new face in Nollywood now and all his movies are making huge impact in Nollywood cinemas.

His last production, ‘Volunteers’, was with Ghana’s celebrated actress Lydia Forson in Liberia last month and it is expected to rocket his career to the next level. 

Bobby is an Ibo boy from Delta State, born and bred in Worri.

“We always considered it as a country within a country. The lifestyle is kind of different from the rest of the other parts of Nigeria. The way we talk, our pidgin is hardcore. We are nice people. Worri is not bad like people say. We are just different,” he said about his place of birth.

He is not the only Nollywood personality who represents Worri. The likes of Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD) and AY also hail from that part of the country. 

Bobby was reading Sociology at the University of Benin in Nigeria when he travelled to Canada to continue his education some years ago. He subsequently read political science at the York University in Canada where he has been staying for over a decade.

Bobby is passionate about projecting anything African that positively affects the continent. While in Canada, he arguably turned out to be the first Nigerian to promote African music there. He made it a tradition that anytime he celebrated his birthday in the club, the DJ would play four or five Nigerian music. He started doing that long ago even before 2face released his hit ‘African Queen’ and he managed to get a lot of multinationals in Canada to love Nigerian music. That was how he started flirting with the entertainment industry.

Credit: NEWS-ONE