How to Become a Teenage Actor in Nigeria

Do you want to become a teenage actress or teenage actor in Nigeria? Or you want to become a child actress in Nigeria? In this article, I am going to be showing you how you can join the Nollywood industry in Nigeria an become a famous actor.

We all know it is very easy to become an actor or actress in Nigeria but it is not easy to become a teenage Actress or child actress probably because the space for these kinds of positions is slim in Nollywood. Even in the Yoruba movie industry, the ability to join is slimmer because the industry is not as big as that of English movies.

Becoming a child actress or teenage actress in Nigeria is not easy because you have many things to do and catch up with despite the fact that you want to be popular in the film industry (Nollywood) in Nigeria. For example; while acting your movie role in movies your school (academics) should not suffer.

You must do exceedingly well in school and you must develop your other gifts and talents alongside. This is not like being an actor or actress in Nigeria where you do not have to bother about school or you are well-grown to be able to handle both.

Most adult actors and actresses do exceedingly well in their acting careers because they are done with school (having their university degree) and they can decide to face acting alone but you, however, do not have that luxury. You are more or less like killing two birds with one stone.

So despite the fact that you want to be a successful teenage actress or actor in Nigeria, your school must not suffer, and your grade must not reduce because your education might be the only thing that will save you when everything else has failed you. Yes, you can fall back on it just in case things do not work out.

Who is a Teenage Actor?

A teen or teenage actress or actor is someone (boy or girl) between the age of 13 – 19 who acts or plays the role of a character in movies or dramas. This role in the movies (films) could depict the life of teenagers or the role could depict the life of children. This is why a teenage actor or actress can also be called a child actor or actress in many situations.

Top Teen Actors in Nigeria

Here’s a list of some popular child actresses in Nigeria. You can check their social media accounts for their contact number or official email to become their friends.

1. Regina Daniels

2. Angel Unigwe

3. Manser Michelle

4. Sharon Ifedi

5. Pearl Shim

6. Chidinma Oguike

7. Chisom Oguike

8. Chinenye Oguike

9. Jeiel Damina

10. Adaeze Onuigbo

So how can you really become a teenage actress or child actress in Nigeria? Well, these are the steps.

How to Become a Nollywood Teenage Actress or Actor

Steps on how to become a teenage actress or actor in Nigeria.

1. Develop your Acting Skills

This is the first thing that should come to your mind if you are really trying to become a teenage actress in Nigeria – building your acting skills. It is not enough for you to tell everyone you want to become a child actress you need to start building and developing your acting skills. As little as you trying to imitate your best actress in front of your mirror at home can really go a long way than just word of mouth.

Practice different roles in front of your family. This could be with your brothers and sisters or your father and mother and join your school and church drama group too. All this is how to can build your acting skills without sacrificing too much as a newbie in show business in Nigeria. Also, every opportunity you have to do stage drama, do not joke with it take it seriously.

Learn from other teenage actresses those you look up to in Nollywood without them teaching you anything. What am I saying here? What I am saying is to pay attention to how these people act in their movies and stage dramas. Participating in stage drama will help you defeat stage fright and develop your confidence while recording your acts on your phone will also help you to stop being camera shy.

2. Believe in Skill or Gift

Truth is there will be times people will doubt you even after you have given your best in each of your performances especially those you never believe to do so like your parent, your teachers, and other people close to you but you need to continue to believe in yourself. You need to believe in yourself and continue to see yourself as the best despite all odds.

The ability to be the best in anything you do first starts with the mind. If you believe you can do it you can do it and if you believe you can not, you can not. A popular quote goes thus “If you can see it, you will believe it, and if you can believe it you can achieve it.”

Also take every criticism from your teachers, directors, and producers with a good heart and do not believe you know everything, and even if you know everything there is always something new about acting you can learn. So believe in yourself and never let anything around you discourage you about what you want to become.

3. Show your Acting Skills Online

After practicing your acting skills and you are beginning to perfect everything that has to do with acting like exhibiting which are the right body language, the right way of speaking, tone, ability to stress words when they need to be stressed. The next step for you will be to take your acting as a teenager to the next level.

And this is to showcase your acting talent or gift on social media for everyone to see. Showcasing your gift or talents on social media as a teen is very important if you want to be well-known for your acting skills in Nigeria without necessarily knowing the big names in the Nollywood industry.

Actress and Comedienne Taooma did this too and it has not just made her a millionaire, it also gave her free tickets to acting in Nollywood and even in the Yoruba movie industry. Today popular Nigerian actors and actresses use her in their movies.

But the hard truth is although it takes time to be popular on the internet (social media) as an actor or actress especially a teen actress it will be worth it in the end when the big roles and contracts start coming in.

Steps to Open Social Media Accounts

First off, you need to open the social media that most celebrities use the most which are Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Instagram will be used to upload your pics and short videos, Twitter will be used to comment on trending topics or hashtags in the movie industry, and YouTube to upload your good content.

This could be clips of the live drama, play, or movies you have done. Do this well and do it consistently. If you don’t have time for this or you do not know how to go about it you can meet your parent to help you out.

4. Build your Persona

Building a reputable personal brand is very important as a teen actress or actor in Nigeria and you do not have to do much to make this happen. So what is personal branding? Simply put personal brand is what people think of you when they hear your name. This could be good things like hard work, comedy, professionalism, and more or this could be bad things like nudity, promiscuity unseriousness, and more.

Although personal branding cannot be built in a short while, if you are consistent with it people will know you well for what you stand for. Read our guide on how to build a personal brand online in Nigeria.

5. Go for Auditions for Films

After building your personal brand both online and offline in Nigeria and your name is gradually becoming a household name you can now try going for auditions around where you reside and register with acting schools or acting agencies in Nigeria to make your audition process easy for you.

For example; if you reside in Lagos you can start going for auditions in Lagos and if some of these auditions are far from where you reside and you have a supportive parent you can tell your parent to go along with you to cheer you.

Going for these auditions will not be easy I must say you need to prepare yourself emotionally and mentally and each time you go for one always put in your best and hope for the best. The truth is some producers or directors will pick you and some will not and this is not because you do not have extraordinary acting skills it could just be for any other reasons best known to them.

You will win some auditions and you will lose some until you are very popular. As for the buying of Nollywood form whether it is necessary or not. You do not need it as your good work will always give you big roles in any movie.

6. Be Consistent in your Acting

There’s hardly anything you are consistent in that you will not be a professional in it as time goes by so it is with acting too. As a young girl going into acting, you need to be consistent. You cannot be in today and out tomorrow. You cannot also take a break for any reason if you must it should be for a short while and then you should resume.

Also, another thing you should put in mind is that you cannot be too selective about the movies you want to act in or the role you want to play in these movies. If you are too picky other actors, actresses, child actresses, directors, and so on might not like you or might find it difficult to move along with you easily.

You need to do as many movies and dramas as possible and take many roles as possible too.

7. Diversify your Income

This is one of the things I like talking about the most on the blog and this is why I share as many articles as I can on businesses that I know Nigerian youths can invest in. You see, it is very important that you do not spend the money you make from acting anyhow if you really want to become a millionaire in Nigeria in a short while.

As you are making the money you should start investing it into businesses that you know you understand and will make huge profits from. The most common business that actors and actresses in Nigeria go into is the real estate business. In the business, you can buy lands or houses and sell them later to make more money.

You should read my article about the real estate business below to know how you can have background information about starting it.

Conclusion

Acting can be very stressful if especially if you are just starting out as a teenager in Nigeria. It will always demand your time and attention so you need to get ready for it. Also, make sure as you are trying to make a name for yourself in the industry your education does not suffer. I wish you the best in your acting career. Good luck! That is all in this article. As usual, let me know if I missed any part of this article.

Recommended: 

• The 10 Richest Actors in Nigeria
• How to Make Money offline in Nigeria
• How to Build Personal Brand in Nigeria on Social Media
• How to become a Social Media Influencer in Nigeria
• The 10 Richest Kids in Nigeria