Veteran actor, Chidi Mokeme, one of the pioneers of the Nigerian movie industry popularly known as Nollywood, has opened up in an explicit interview with Channels Television, on why he stayed away from acting for some years now.
The actor revealed this on a show, ‘Rubbin Minds’ on Sunday 22nd January, 2023, that he had ‘Bell’s Palsy’, a condition that causes sudden weakness in the muscles on one side of the face.
“Yeah I have been off the film for a while. After we did the promotional tour for ’76’ and we went to the Toronto International Film Festival. I will say something that I haven’t actually said somewhere else because after that, as we were preparing to go to the UK for the British International Film Festival, I came down with something called Bell’s Palsy, it was the first time I was hearing it”, Mokeme said.
“Bell’s Palsy comes like a stroke and it’s something that affects one side of your face and sort of gives you a droop. It was something that the doctors felt was incurable because they didn’t know what causes it, they didn’t know how to treat it. So, as an actor if you come down with something that affects your face, you can imagine what I must have been going through that time.
“I thought it was something I could move around with, I tried to come for the Lagos premier of 76 at the time but the attention was sort of focused on the face rather than the premier, then I knew it’s not something that I could work with. I will take time off to try and sort out that problem. So in the meantime I just focused on doing my other business” , the actor added.
The talented actor of the movie, ‘Abuja Connection’, has returned to acting scene with a big bang in the trending movie, ‘Shanty Town’, where he delivered a masterclass interpretation of the character ‘Scar’.
Mokeme is a Nigerian actor and TV host of ‘Gulder Ultimate Search Reality Show’.
Story: Christy Dung
Credit : Ijeomadaisy/ Channelstelevision
