THOSE who are familiar with what goes on in moviedom in Nigeria know that most new entrants crawl to find a space to air their talents. But with three major industry awards: 2012 City People Entertainment Award for Best New Actress, 2012 Nollywood Movies Award for Rising Star and 2013 Best of Nollywood Awards for most promising female actress, and in less than five years of her entry into Nollywood, the delectable Ngozi Sylvia Oluchi Ezeokafor has not only found a space in moviedom, but the graduate of Theatre Arts of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State who is popular known as Sylvya Oluchy has found her rhythm and she appears ready to soar higher. Humble and unpretentiously friendly, Oluchi has proven in some of her movie appearances including On Bended Knees and in the Omoni Oboli’s wave making movie Being Mrs. Elliot, that she is a stuff any good director should have in a movie. The Anambra native and star of Honest Deceivers, Alan Poza and Finding Love who was raised in Abuja speaks about her career and life…

Two awards in less than five years of your incursion is no mean feat. How do you feel?

It is not and I am grateful to God. Aspiring to be a movie star is a huge dream and a lot of people will doubt you, which in turn can makes you doubt yourself. These awards made me confident in my future and I was able to raise my head up high knowing I was doing something right that would pay off big eventually.

But was acting on your career wish list?

No. I wanted to be a scientist. I always dreamt of making inventions like Einstein and Newton. I still feel like I am inventing now though. I am inventing characters and life lessons which educate society on flaws instead of physical things. So I was a science-inclined, socially-awkward and a shy child. I never thought I was good enough to be on television. But my mother would always ask me, “how was school today?” Then she would say:  “acting will fit you” when I imitate all my teachers to her. I grew up hearing this daily and it seeped into my subconscious. Today, I am a full-time actor. But I do a bit of business on the side because I believe that one should have multiple streams of income.

So it was your mum who provided the push?

Yes, my mother encouraged me and she even encouraged me to enroll for Theatre Arts. She said: “don’t knock it until you try it. If you don’t like it, you can always switch, you are still young”. I entered university at 16 and a half and the minute I went on stage, I fell in love with it. It has really helped me because it instilled the discipline of rehearsing and practicing on my own in me. It also made me appreciate the art because we studied the history of entertainment in school. I also learnt film making in its totality and I can do makeup script writing and directing.

But how was the road to this stage of your career. Smooth?

Smooth is relative. People have their own struggles. It is the attitude you approach it with that makes all the difference. I am not a fan of complaining as it doesn’t solve anything but creates an atmosphere of negativity, which in turn makes life harder. My mantras are to be simply optimistic, to smile only and believe that I am a special one. I believe in speaking positivity into my life.

So what was growing up like and how much of encouragement did you get from your dad?

Growing was very fun. I am the youngest of five children born to Dr. and late Mrs. C.R Ezeokafor. We travelled a lot and I got to see the world at a tender age. This has really shaped my worldview and made me very tolerant to race, religion, culture and accepting individual differences. My father retired as a civil servant and is a PHD holder while my mother was a primary school teacher. So the value of education was instilled in us from birth. As for whether I was encouraged by my dad, well, at first, my father didn’t buy the idea. He wanted me to be a lawyer. But to his credit, my father is not rigid. I played a tiny role in a movie titled Zoza before I got into the university and when he watched it, he was impressed. He said to me: “I don’t like this career choice but if that’s what you want, I will support you by paying your school fees”. Now that my mother is no longer with us, he has taken it upon himself to continue to uphold her memory by supporting me and is now my biggest fan. He cuts out all my newspaper articles and stores them.

So how many movies would you have taken part in and which is your favourite movie appearance yet, and how is the journey so far for you?

I think I am approaching the 20 mark and it is really not how many but the quality of what comes out at the end of the day. I count myself very lucky to have been featured in movies by great directors and producers. I am currently on set doing a movie titled ‘Okoro in Los Angeles’ by Pascal Atumah, which stars myself, Yaw, Funke Akindele, Alibaba and Ini Edo. As for my favourite movie appearances, my characters are my children and like a mother, I can’t play favourites. Generally, I will say that my best is yet to come. I have no regrets at all even though being self-employed is not easy at the beginning but I can’t imagine myself at a nine-five-desk job. I have itchy feet and I love to be on the go.

What will you say are your likes and dislikes?

I strongly believe in Isaac Newton’s theory of Relativity. What I like and dislike depends on the situation and context in which it is done. Generally, however, I don’t like hypocrisy. I enjoy people who say it how it is. In the same vein, I don’t have a favourite meal, it depends on my mood and which country I am in. I love bright colours like yellow, red, pink and lemon green. With music, I am eclectic. I would listen to everything and anything depending on my mood. My favourite author is Robert Greene (48 laws of power). I have read all five of his books. I also love Chimamanda Adichie, Dan Brown, Jeffrey Archer, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and Elechi Amadi for fictional works. I simply love to read!