Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey Inyang had his day on Wednesday

It was the birthday of Nollywood actor and producer, Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey Inyang, on Wednesday, and as usual, the social media was awash with congratulatory messages for the gangling show host, father and husband, who is well respected in the Nigerian motion picture industry and indeed the entertainment industry.

An unpretentiously friendly fellow, who was recently appointed a member of the Governing Board of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), there are really not too many actors in Nollywood who ardent fans would cheer at each time their names appear on the starring list of a movie.

The tall and well-built Keppy is one of such actors roundly applauded for his craft and ability to grab attention with credulity and easy mien.

What was supposed to be just a one-off outing in Tade Ogidan’s long rested soap, The Boy Next Door, gradually turned into what can be best described as an enduring romance with the acting vocation for the Akwa Ibom native, who combines acting with being a talk show host and producer.

An actors’ actor of vast credit, Keppy studied Linguistics and holds a second degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos (Unilag).

He had his early education at Corona School and Government Secondary School, Ojo, Lagos and enrolled at the Federal School for Arts and Science for his ‘A’ Levels before proceeding to Unilag.

Upon graduation, Keppy served the compulsory one-year national service at the Programmes Department of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

It was at the NTA that he further acquired some acting chops and helmed the acts he had picked up ‘as an intern’ under Ogidan. He returned to the acting turf afterwards and straight away landed a lead role in the long rested television soap, Ripples.

When home movie production boomed, Keppy stepped up there too and in 1993, he and two others got together to produce Unforgiven Sin, a movie in the Igbo language medium, which won a couple of awards.

He stayed on after that and got married in between to a pretty damsel and mother of his two children and has since then continued to pump on, because his passion, as he said, lay in acting and the world of showbiz, generally.