I Don’t Drink But I Don't Womanize –Nollywood's Fredrick Leonard

Fredrick Leonard

It is generally believed that most male celebrities, especially those with handsome physiques that make them look like ‘sex icons’, are promiscuous.

In most cases, this turns out to be a true observation and an award winning Nigerian actor, Fredrick Leonard, has spoken to NEWS-ONE about this.

Fredrick denied being involved in such tendencies and made more interesting revelations about his personality that not many of his fans are aware of.

“I enjoy what I do. I am an extrovert but I don’t drink, I don’t smoke and I don’t womanize either. I am a strong Christian and a God-fearing person. I love good people and I love honest people,” Fredrick said in an exclusive interview with NEWS-ONE in Ghana.

“I don’t even see myself as a celebrity, I’m sorry. I see myself as a working man who does some kind of work, except that my work puts me in front of the camera. It does not make me any special than anyone,” he said.

The handsome actor has been in the Nollywood film industry for over a decade and has featured in a lot of movies including Ghanaian movies.

He started acting since 2001 but left to finish school and returned in 2006. Again, he went off the scene for a while and finally returned in 2008.

Among his tall list of movies are ‘Indian Doctor’, ‘Disclosure’, ‘Marriage War’, ‘Wanted Love’, ‘100% Secret’, ‘Deadly Plot’, ‘Ladies Man’, ‘Cobra’, and ‘Spirit of Assassin’.

“My first lead role was in ‘Indian Doctor’. It made an introduction while the movie, ‘Disclosure’ made an impression. I can’t really point out which one of the movies gave me my break but I know that I have done a couple of movies,” he added.

He believes African movies are doing well but there is a need to work on improving quality. That way, the continent’s industry can boldly compete with Hollywood.

Currently, African movie industry players should not even think about comparing Nollywood or other industries to Hollywood. This is because he thinks Hollywood is even older than some African countries and there is no way such a thing will happen anytime soon.

He said it would take an industry like Nollywood 20 years to get to the level of Hollywood, in terms of producing quality movies, if it has good structures.

 “I believe that Africa can get better so that the present-day youth will correct the impression the outside world has about our continent and paint a better image of who we are,” he added.      

Fredrick is the first of two children in his family. His father is dead but his mother is alive. Though a graduate of Biochemistry, he ends up in the creative arts industry.  

He explained why he abandoned his field of study saying, “I’m sure you are wondering, why acting? Passion comes before money and I enjoy acting.”    

Credit: NEWS-ONE