Golden Boy Ramsey Nouah Jnr Goes To School

POPULAR Nollywood actor, Ramsey Tokunbo Nouah is heading back to school. No, not for any degree or postgraduate degree programme. The award winning actor and one of those that can be rightly described as the face of Nollywood will be guest, just a for a few hours, of the Nollywood Studies Centre of the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University. Nouah who has won most of the awards for acting that is there to win, is guest of the maiden edition of ‘Meet the Artiste’ forum at PAU, a forum especially organised for the students of the Pan-Atlantic University and will feature the popular actor, Ramsey Noah as the guest speaker.

Scheduled to take place at the university’s new site at Km 52 Lekki-Epe Express, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, on Wednesday the 29th of April, 2015 at 1pm, session, one of the ways that the PAU has devised to bridge the gap between theatre practice and dialectics, will be interactive and will involve a brief talk by Ramsey Nouah who in 2010 received the prestigious Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a leading role.

A statement from the organisers indicate that the married actor and father of three who has put in well over two decade will be speaking about his career of over 20 years in the Nigerian film industry. ‘’He will also encourage and enlighten the students on the workings and challenges of the entertainment industry’’ the statement added. Usually, there will be time for ‘questions and answers’ and there is no doubt that the quality crowd that will be attracted to the session would want to know the secret of Ramsey Nouah’s success as a long standing first rate actor. They also would want to hear from the actor how he has been able to manage the fame that has come with his engagement with the acting vocation.

For those who have been following the actor right from his ‘Mega Fortunes’ days on television, the story of the acclaimed Romeo of Nollywood is not difficult to tell.

Ramsey is a stuff that Hollywood actors are made of. He is unarguably one show biz personality who projects an aura of stardom and success and who enjoys mass appeal both within and outside Nigeria. Here is one of Nigeria’s screen personality who is adored by many and who has proven in no small measure that one does not have to come from oversea to be adored or to live like a star. Here is Ramsey Tokumbo Noah Jnr, an actor and later day singer whose stage charisma and kick has won him a growing legion of fans across the globe and whom most observers say has through hard work and determination gained prominence as a thespian of outstanding ability. Indeed, here is Ramsey who is hailed as our own answer to the Hollywood star Denzel Washington and whose handsome face lights up several Nigerian love stories told in motion.

An iconoclast by industry rating, Ramsey is a study in career growth. How he was able to break into Nollywood in spite of the looming images of a number of well-experienced actors is something that has inspired and would continue to inspire a whole lot of young potentates in the future.

Born to an Israeli father, Ramsey Noah Snr and to Mrs. Margaret Afolabi an ordained pastor who is a native of Owo in Ondo State of Nigeria, Ramsey disclosed that he was born in Lagos and was entirely brought up in Lagos by his mother. His father as he narrated moved on to Israel when it was certain that he could not consummate his proposed wedlock to Margaret because of the insistence that he must marry an Israeli. This was why Ramsey who had his early education at Otara Primary School, Surulere, Lagos and at Community Grammar School, Surulere, Lagos was brought up entirely by his mother.

A Sagittarian having been born in December, it was a push from a female friend and an early inclination for acting that inspired Ramsey’s incursion into acting on full time. As a young man, Ramsey loved to act. He also loved to watch movies and was a big fan of the American acting icon James Bond. He admired Bond so much that he found himself most times in front of a mirror trying to play ‘James Bond’ in their little home in Ebute-Metta. It was such an early inclination that got him never to really struggle to choose a career path when it was time to do so.

But Ramsey’s career kicked off professionally when he got the opportunity to star in the celebrated Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) soap ‘Mega-Fortune’. As Jeff Akin Thomas, son of the stupendously wealthy Akin Thomas, Ramsey not only found fame with that, he got fortune as long as the soap lasted on television. The fame and fortune was to multiply soon as he joined the home movie turf.

Described by some fans as ‘a lover boy in every movie’, Ramsey started off as an extra, but he grew in status as he ran along. It took his near beatific performance in some celebrated flicks like ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Blind Trust’ for Ramsey to reign uproariously. The story of this proud father and husband to Emilia Noah nee Philips, a woman who he spoke about in glowing terms and whom he said has helped him to keep his sanity, has not changed since then.

He is today reputed to be one of the highest paid and most popular actors in Nollywood. In fact, there was a time in the life of Nollywood when a movie without Ramsey would be termed ‘incomplete’ by a majority. Some of his loyal fans and even colleagues have argued that the situation has even not changed. They say the acting ability of the actor whose off screen moments are spent on relaxing, watching films, keeping fit, swimming and riding scooter bikes around, has remained timeless.

A screen personality who enjoys the privilege of playing the lead always, the biggest challenge Ramsey said he has had to contend with is managing the huge fame and attention that has come with his being a top player in the movie. He is the darling of most young people who consider him a role model and who would not stop at cheering anytime they set eyes on him. He has on numerous occasions escaped being mobbed by some elated fans. In fact Ramsey can hardly walk the streets of Lagos and indeed other towns in Nigeria. But in all of this, Ramsey stresses that he has found a way to cope with the attention he gets from his fans.

Did he meet Emilia, his beloved wife on the turf? ‘No’ he replies. Ramsey and Emilia were mates in primary school. But they met after their secondary education and after a few years together they both agreed to exchange marital vows. They have been living happily since their wedlock.

An actor of vast credit, in Ramsey’s movie credit pouch are such hit flicks like ‘My Love’, ‘Emotional Crack’, ‘Lost Confidence’, ‘Valentino’, The Pastor and the Harlot’, ‘Honey’, ‘Break Up’, ‘All For Love’, ‘Playboy’, ‘Real Love’, ‘Figurine’, ’30 Days in Atlanta’ and several others. In fact at the last count, Ramsey has featured in over 150 home video productions.

Asked to state his turn off and turn on, Ramsey a quick-witted fellow said he abhors liar and pretenders and likes to be among people who are progressive in thought and attitudes. He says he enjoys the gains that come with fame but not when it deprives him of his privacy.

Any regrets? Ramsey who expressed optimism about the future of Nollywood replied ‘none that I can think of now’ he says. Acting in the movie he adds, has greatly rewarded him. ‘I don’t think I would have been happier in any other profession. This has really been rewarding for me and there are still many grounds for me to cover’’ he said.

Ramsey greatest ambition is to be counted as a key player in the motion picture industry and to be cut above the rest even on the world stage. He also hopes to like Denzel Washington and Mel Gibson, his other role models, who are both famous for combining acting with directing, launch into the challenging world of directing. He said he is inspired by the success story of those men of vast credit and by Nigeria’s Tade Ogidan to venture into directing. ‘I am looking forward to a rewarding career as director much later,’ Nouah said.