From Christy Anyanwu in London
Victoria Inyama is a Nigerian actress well loved for her different roles in the Nollywood. Now based in the United Kingdom, she was one of the celebrity models at the just concluded Black History & Lifestyle Award Night held in conjunction with Africa Fashion Week London on Sunday, October 29, 2023. 
In this interview with Sunday Sun in London, she gave a glimpse into her life, work, plans, living in the UK, the Nigerian movie industry and other issues.
How would you tell your story or describe yourself, the real Victoria Inyama?
I read creative arts at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), from 1998 to 2002. I have been acting from birth. I started in ‘Ripples’ in the early 1990s, when I played Barbara Soky’s younger sister, Tokoni. Then Barbara Soky was someone I always admired because she was so beautiful. Alex Usifo was staying on my street in Nnobi, Surulere, then. I always came to his compound to fetch water. I would usually greet him. One day, he asked if I would love to act and I screamed, ‘Yes!’ He said I should come to a place in Pako in Aguda, Surulere. That was Zeb Ejiro’s office. And that was how my journey started in acting, with ‘Ripples.’ Alex Usifo played a major role in my career when I started. Even Zik Okafor coached me in acting. Fred Amata was the director then. Now, I am dedicated to advocating for positive mental health and resilience. My journey spans diverse domains: from my roles as an actress to currently pursuing a Masters in Applied Psychology. My acting journey has been mixed, with varied emotions, highs and lows; but I am grateful for it all. I made my mark and the universe blessed me with the voice I use now. I speak at events, conferences about wellbeing and mental health. Still studying and taking ca
re of the kids and home. I organise events on mental health. My latest movie is in cinemas now, titled ‘Golden Stripes.’
Now that you are based in the UK, what do you miss most about Nigeria?
I don’t miss anything. I don’t think I can cope in Nigeria because of the things I see, the lifestyle. I asked an average person, how much do you spend daily and how much do you earn? What’s your income and what’s your output? You’ll buy gen, buy an expensive car, and have a houseboy/housegirl, and gateman. How are you making that money? Here, we are very different. Before you spend 10 pounds, you must make sure you have at least 50 pounds. You have to be prudent, because who can you beg for money? Except you go and ask for a loan. It’s easier to ask for a loan than to go and ask somebody for money. Here, you take a loan; you can collect and go to school, unlike in Nigeria where you have to pay your school fees yourself. If you have the amenities of the loan, you use it. You can also go back to work. It depends. I am just someone that loves to educate myself. I love to learn. I love to make a difference positively and I don’t want to make a difference based on experience. I want to make a difference as per I have learnt this thing, it has been tried and tested, let me use it to also help others. I believe that every experience you pass through in life is for a reason. Don’t waste it; you could also be using it to better somebody else. One of my colleagues wore a beautiful dress for an award night. She said it was worth one-point-something million. I said, just the dress? So, if you have three awards to attend in a month, you buy all these dresses for millions, do your make up, your car, so, on a good day you will spend five million to attend the awards? I don’t think I can even cope with such a lifestyle. I am not missing anything about Nigeria.
So, what makes London okay for you as a person to live in?
If I have to come back to Nigeria, it is to come for a visit, not to stay. Maybe I’m coming to work, to introduce some therapies, hold conferences on what I have studied.
Was it marriage that brought you to the UK?
My father and my step-brother used to live here. I came to visit him when he was alive. Both of them have passed away now. I met my ex-husband here. I got married and started having kids.
Your ex-husband?
I have been very vocal on domestic violence. I talk about it all the time. It was very much in my marriage, that was why I backed out of the relationship and got a divorce. I have three children. Two boys and a girl. My marriage almost destroyed my life.
You said sometime ago you were more comfortable in your psychology scene than as an actor, what do you mean by that?
Let’s say you walk into a hall where there are families and someone says, Oh, she’s an actress, the response is always, hmmmm! The bias is already there, and then you have to extra-behave yourself. You see some women making moves, something like, hold your husband, hold your boyfriend, etc. It’s not as if actresses are the worst, we have other people that are worse. Most times, when I properly introduce myself and I speak, they now know that this one is intelligent. Don’t be categorising everybody as the same. Some of us really went to school and were educated. With the influence of reality shows, everybody is now acting.
What advice would you give to those who want to follow your footsteps?
What’s your why? Why do you want to do this thing? What is your reason? Based on your reason, it would kind of shape you up. If you have your whys and you go to two or three auditions and, let us say the first audition you go to, they don’t take you, and you have your why, you will keep pushing. If you have a why and you go for auditions and they are asking you to give sex for roles, for instance, if you have your why, you would stand your ground and say, no, I have the talent and I am not going to do this. If you don’t have your why, you will fall for anything because you are desperate, with things like I want to be famous, or I want to have money, because you see other actresses, thinking that being an actress makes you rich. Sometimes you don’t even know the truth of the source of income or the truth of their wealth. They might dress like that, drive exotic cars, and you just want to go in, not knowing the truth or the source, then you land in trouble. You need to have your why. When you know your why, you have direction. When we started acting, we didn’t know it was going to tilt this way or get here. It was just for the fun of it. We were just happy. But now, everything has changed. Once you have your why, you are all good to go. Using the late Mohbad’s issue, for instance, it’s a bit typical, but people don’t talk about it. It is like you have to belong to this, we have to know that you are loyal to us before we allow you. All these things are there and with Mohbad it just became glaring. I am using him as an example, it is not about whoever killed him. All these clique things we also have in the movie industry. Those days, I remember the G10, earning N1 million for a movie. There were also producers that would tell you, I can make you popular, but you have to sleep with me. When I started, it wasn’t like that, but somehow it crept in, when certain babes joined the industry. I was lucky, I had already made my name before the influx of so many of these actresses. People already knew how I could act so, it wasn’t difficult for me, but for the younger ones, hmmm, it’s something nobody is talking about.