Kenyan actress makes a big screen debut in Lagos

“Growing up in a family where we were always encouraged to pursue our dreams made it safe for me to express mine. My family members have supported me and are my biggest fans,” she says.

In the past, making a living off performing arts in Kenya was hard, but now many actors do, she says.

Before joining Phoenix Players as a full-time actress, Ms Njagah used to freelance with any theatre group that would hire her.

“And soon as I got paid for one play, I would use the money to pay for my bus fare to attend the next rehearsal,” she says.

When she did not have enough bus fare to go home, she would take turns sleeping in her three sisters’ hostels at the University of Nairobi.

Her big break was when she was awarded the KWAL scholarship at the Phoenix Players. Under the tutelage of the late director James Falkland and Ian Mbugua, she says her acting skills improved.

Her first unusual role was acting as a woman who dressed up as her brother in order to track her lover’s and brother’s killer in “Servant of Two Masters”. To fit in the role of a man, she had to follow her brother around to see how he behaves.

Less theatre, more small screen

Over the years, Ms Njagah has appeared in many films, local and international, and toured the world with various theatre groups.

Her first major role on the screen was playing Nancy Wakesho in the popular Kenyan soap opera, Makutano Junction. She was also part of the Five Seasons cast.

It was her first time on the screen and was eager to learn, an experience that helped her with the Tinsel movie auditions.

Like every actor, no matter how experienced, auditions are still a nerve-raking affair, she says. To improve her acting, she watches her own shows.

“I’m very critical of my work, always looking for ways to better myself,’’ she says.

When Tinsel came auditioning in Nairobi for the character Tare Duke, she went on the second day to avoid the crowd. A month later, she was in Lagos for the final audition.

The producers of the show had auditioned in two other African countries – Nigeria and Ghana—and she beat all other contestants and was picked for the role.

Since April 2011, she has been acting the fun loving party-girl, Tare Duke.

“Tare Duke is confrontational. She likes to be in control both with the men in her life and her sister, Telema Duke. She’s fiercely protective of her younger sister. She’s very insightful and intuitive,” says the actress.

Acting in Tinsel meant living in Nigeria and had to travel there after every two months for the shooting.

Local industry

Being in Nigeria for over a year has made her understand Nollywood. She says the movie industry in Nigeria is big compared to Kenya’s.

Nollywood churns out over a 1,000 films per year compared to Hollywood’s 800.

She says Kenya’s Riverwood is similar to Nollywood where producers make low-cost films in local languages and sell them at affordable prices, but Nigeria has a much larger market than Kenya does, so it is therefore easier to sell larger volumes in Nigeria.

“Kenyan producers should think in terms of the Eastern Africa market as a whole to be able to sell the volumes that Nigeria sells,” says the actor.

“It’s very hard for people to find local films. Our distribution channels are not as developed as they should be. There are amazing films out there but not many have watched them,” she says.

She says Nigerian corporates fund productions especially for high quality films. In Kenya, corporates are not so keen in funding filmmakers.

Having acted most of her adult life, Ms Njagah is looking forward to getting her film company off the ground. Her plan is to tell African stories like what her grandmother used to, she says.

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