I Shaved All The Hair On My Body To Portray A Female Character – Jide Awobona

Jide Awobona

Nollywood actor and filmmaker Jide Awobona has revealed the challenges behind taking on a female role in his latest movie, “Rise With Me.” He recently had his say during an interview with Potpourri, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, he stopped going to the gym three months before shooting to lose weight, and he even went as far as shaving all his body hair to look like a woman.

Awobona added that the movie highlights resilience, support and the challenges women face in society.

His words, “To start with, for every movie I produce, I always aim to do something I have not done before. Aside from having a fantastic story, I love to include a wow factor in every project. There has to be something memorable to hold on to. There has to be a strong message. Beyond the message, the movie must carry weight, boldness, and audacity—something daring.

Those who are great followers of my work already know that Jide Awobona is known for doing something new, something out of the norm. I did that with Inspector Jero, I did the same with Amma, and I have done it with some of my previous movies.

I shed a lot to slim down, making my body flexible—like a canvas we could paint on.

I had to shave all my body hair except for the hair on my head. Any part of my body that had hair that made me look like a man, I had to remove.

Rise With Me is not just a movie—it is advocacy material. One of the messages is that women should learn to support one another rather than pull each other down. The film also encourages women trying to conceive to know that there are several options available if they want to.

Amidst their pain, they often hide it to make everyone feel like they are fine. This film is ultimately advocacy for women, highlighting resilience, support, and the challenges women face in society.”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.