The Story of Ramsey Tokunbo Nouah: How he started acting because he needed money for GCE
Ramsey Tokunbo Nouah Jr. was born in Lagos on December 19, 1970, to an Israeli Jewish father and a Yoruba mother who hails from Owo, Ondo State. He grew up in Surulere, Lagos, where he attended Atara Primary School and Community Grammar School
He received a diploma in Mass Communications at the University of Lagos, after which he pursued a career in acting
Ramsey Nouah started acting in the early 1990s because he needed money for his General Certificate Education (GCE). His acting career kicked off when he starred as Jeff Akin-Thomas in the Nigerian TV soap opera Fortunes. He has since appeared in numerous films starring as the lead role, and has been called “Lover-Boy” for his numerous roles in romantic films.
He is also considered to be one of the most sought-after actors in Nigeria.
According to Nouah:
“I was born in Costain, Lagos, where I began my early life before moving to Aguda, Surulere. I lived with my mother and half-brother. My father was never in the picture. I was very playful and I must admit, it’s rubbing off on my kids, and I’m not liking it very much. I was also very artistically inclined. I was fascinated by comic books and drawings, although I wasn’t exactly great at that. My elementary education was at Atara Primary School, Orile Iganmu, Lagos, and for my post-elementary education, I attended Community Grammar School, Surulere. I also got a Diploma in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos. Interestingly, my life has been a tale of grace to grass to grace. I was born with a silver spoon but shortly after, everything changed and our wealth went to zero. This made me understand the two sides of life; living a life of plenty and a life of not even having enough to eat. As rough as the experience might have seemed, it actually helped me gain a balance in my profession as an actor; being able to comfortably switch between the roles of the prince and the pauper”
“Even though I knew I had a dominant creative side, I was sure I was going to become a pilot or an aeronautic engineer. I was obsessed with planes, machines and gadgets that flew and I knew I had to be involved somehow; whether by actually flying them, creating them or building them so other people could fly them”
“I needed money to take my GCE external examination and I just couldn’t get it, no matter where I went. So, I remembered that my friend had told me repeatedly that I had a gift in acting but I had never taken it seriously. When I needed money desperately to pay for my exams, I decided to give it a try and source some money from it. In 1990, I had a cameo role and in 1991, I had a role in the series, Mega Fortunes, which aired in 1993 and lasted for just a year. After that came the advent of home videos and it’s been a roller-coaster ride since then. I really just went into acting because I needed the money and not because I thought I could act. Over time, I realised that I had a strong passion for acting and thought to myself that acting could really just have been my calling”
“We had been filming Mega Fortunes and we didn’t get paid till about the eighth month when I finally got N1,100 (about N80 per episode). As soon as I got the money, I ran to Yaba market to buy a pair of secondhand chinos trousers, leather brass belt, black tee-shirt and moccasins. That’s all I could buy with the money. I couldn’t even afford to get transportation back home; I walked from the market to Aguda, Surulere, but I was very happy with my purchase as it changed my wardrobe”
In 2015, Nouah secured the rights to the 1992 movie Living in Bondage for a possible remake. In 2018, he announced his remake had become a sequel titled Living in Bondage: Breaking Free, which was released on November 8, 2019. Nouah, who played the new villain, made his directorial debut, and the film won 7 awards at the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards.
Nouah is married to Emelia Philips-Nouah. The couple have two sons named Quincy Nouah and Joshua Nouah, and one daughter named Desiree Nouah.
Source:
Wikipedia
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