Veteran Nollywood actor RMD is celebrating his 65th birthday today. He recently marked the milestone with photos of himself, and fans have been reacting.
Reflecting on growing older on earth, the moviestar stated that ageing comes with privileges, including the comfort of being at ease in his own skin.
Looking back on his six and a half decades, RMD described them as years defined by purpose, presence, and grace.
His words, “The celebration has just started. Age has its privileges. One of them is becoming comfortable in your own skin. The rest is Grace.
65 years of purpose, presence, and grace. I’ve lived long enough to know that life owes us nothing. Yet, by God’s grace, it has given me everything that truly matters.
The privilege to dream. The courage to begin. The strength to endure. The wisdom to evolve. The grace to remain.
For every lesson. For every season. For every soul that has walked this journey with me. I am deeply grateful. The journey continues.”
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.
