Veteran Nollywood comic actor Nkem Owoh, widely known as Osuofia, has revealed that his journey into acting was unplanned, describing it as something that happened “by accident.”

Owoh explained that he initially wanted to remain behind the scenes as a scriptwriter, but colleagues who noticed his natural sense of humour encouraged him to start performing on screen.

Speaking on a recent episode of the Selah Meditate podcast, he said his transition into acting came after persistent pressure from people around him.

“My coming in front of the camera was an accident. I was a scriptwriter behind the scenes and people started telling me to start performing in front of the camera,” he said.

He recalled that in the 1980s, Africa Television (ATV) gave him a short stand-up comedy segment, which marked his first major on-screen appearance.

“I remember ATV created a 7-minute programme for me to do stand-up comedy in the 80s. They told me to come in front of the camera because I was making people laugh behind the camera. With much pressure, I came in front of the camera. And I saw that what I was doing people were buying it so that was how my acting career began,” he added.

The veteran actor also reflected on the challenges that came with fame, noting that it significantly changed his personal life.

According to him, becoming a public figure limited his freedom and restricted his ability to live casually as he once did.

“Fame took away my freedom. A lot of people want to be celebrities, they only know the benefits but not the downsides. When you become famous you can’t do a lot of the things you were doing freely before. You become restricted in a lot of ways,” he said.