Meet Chinwe Nwokolo
Code Name: Actress
The eldest of five girls, I was very timid and quiet as a child, amongst other people. But at home, I was talkative, loud, a day dreamer, imaginative, and maybe some what irritating.
My acting career got started after I left university. I went in to higher education with becoming an entertainment journalist in mind, but after being asked by a film student to star in a short film, the draw of the art pulled me in and I enrolled at Identity Drama School.
I was very shy as a child, and it was my primary school teacher, Mrs Wilson that brought me out of my shell when she started casting me as lead in all the assembly plays, mainly in Mrs Wilsons favourites, Anansi the Spider and Friends. I was never strong at Mathematics and science. Whenever those subjects were on the menu, I would drift into another world. But once it came to drawing, painting, English, I excelled, those were my strengths.
Every parents evening Mum and Dad would be told the same thing, ‘Shes a strong sudent, and has so much potential, but just easily distracted.’ If it was not some some sort of art or writing I some how became detached.
I can credit Mrs Wilson for giving me my first taste of acting, as well as being totally addicted to films and tv shows of the eighties. I remember watching Jason and the Argonauts, Ben Hur, Teen Wolf, The Cosby Show, Only Fools and Horses, and Desmonds to name a few and saying, ‘This is what I want to do!’ But by the time I went to secondary school, and college, I had in mind that I wanted to be an entertainment journalist. I would save my money and buy magazines like, Smash Hits, Word Up and Right On, and imagine interviewing singers and tv and film personalities. So when I got to University, I took a degree in Communication Studies so that I could start to realize this dream. In my final year came the distraction, in the form of acting.
A film student approached me to be in one of his short films. He knew I had acted on secondary school and college, and he believed I had ‘the look’ of the character he wanted to portray, so I agreed. I had no idea that the acting bug would come flying at me in full force! It was the first time I had done anything with cameras and lighting, and it excited me. From that moment on all I ever wanted to do was act.
I was looking through the Voice newspaper, and came across a small advert. ‘Are you interested in acting? Think you could be on stage, tv or film? Then enrolled at Identity drama school, at the Identity Drama School.’ I called the number, and got called in to do an audition, where I presented a monologue from Romeo and Juliet. I cannot say it was the most amazing piece of acting I have presented. I was little rusty, but they saw something in me, and gave me a place in the school. It was there that I started to grow as an actress, I became fearless and got the lead as a HIV carrier in my first play ‘Here Today, Gun Tomorrow.’
I joined the Identity agency, and got made my first TV debut, in the BBC pilot, West 10 LDN, where I starred along side the very talented Ashley Madekwe (Diary Of a Secret Call Girl, Revenge, Salem). It was the first time I had experienced people approaching me on the street, which to me was the most surreal of feelings. The night it was first screened on television. My mum and Dad received the most calls in one night I had ever witnessed. I loved seeing them so proud f my achievement. I think that was maybe the first time they realized how real this ‘acting thing’ was.
Since then I have gone from strength to strength and graced the stages of London, from the Royal Court theatre, Riverside studios and Soho, as well as international advertising campaigns.
Today I have a new agent and as tough as this industry is, I still have every intention to emulate my favourites, Chiwetal Ejiofor, Cate Blanchett, Denzel Washington, Sigouney Weaver, again just to name a few. My passion for it runs deep. It’s the first thing I think about in the morning and the last at night, and despite ups and downs, and rejections from time to time, I know I will get my YES. It can be a scary industry, so I am so grateful I have other friends in it too, and we are able to support and uplift each other. My family, know it’s coming too, they do not know when, but I have told them to stay prepared.
My dream is to star in a HBO production, and to one day work with my favourite directors Martin Scorcese and Steve Mcqueen. Anything else that comes with those would be the sweetest cherry on top.
For Bookings
Chinwe A Nwokolo
Email:Chinwanwokolo@yahoo.co.uk
Twitter: only1chin
Instagram: chinn1980
We keep Moving Forward
EntrepreYOU INC!!!
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