I’m Not Dead – Chizzy Alichi

Chizzy Alichi, a native of Enugu state and a final year student of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Science and Technology(ESUT), Enugu was in the news last week when photos of her lying lifeless on the ground littered the web and some news publications. This was coming  a few days after Kannywood  actor Shehu Jubril and veteran Nollywood actor Charles Warren also died. However, this voluptuous fast rising actress has cried out that she is not dead as widely reported, but that the photos were leaked location shots of scenes from a movie she just finished acting. Morakinyo Olugbiji caught up with the actress in this interview where she expressed her concerns and worries about the rumours

First of all let’s talk about how you got into Nollywood
Acting has been my childhood dream so when the time was right for me, I registered with AGN in 2010 and started going for auditions. I have featured in a number of top Nollywood home videos since then

What are some of the movies you’ve acted in?
I have acted in quite a lot and I believe that I would have gone farther than this if not for the fact that I was sharing my time between schooling and location. Some of the movies I have acted in are “Kiss on a Royal Balcony” and “Royal Balcony”, “Soul of a King”, “Blood on the Throne”, “Reign of Terror”, “A Drop of Blood”, “Mother’s Cult”, “Stone of Tears”, “Sherikoko”, “The Return of Sherikoko”, “Silent King”, “Blind Soul”, “The Three Blind”, “Udaraugo”, “Obinwa”,  and many others that I can’t even remember right now. My roles in these home videos are prominent roles.

When are you going to be through with your programmes at ESUT, and why Agricultural Engineering?
People always ask me this and my answer to them always is that you must not study Theatre Arts to be a good actress.
Most of the successful actors and actresses didn’t necessarily go to film schools or study Theatre arts, although I’m not saying it’s not useful studying the profession, but if your passion and desire to learn on the job is high, with hardwork you’ll get to the peak of your career in no time and you’ll be excellent at it too. I just finished writing my final papers a few days back. So I’m battle ready to take on the industry fully. That’s not to say I won’t still embark on some of of training and education in filmmaking in the near future.

Tell us about the pictures currently causing controversies about you?
Someone leaked the behind the scene shots from a new movie titled
“A Gift of Pain” from the stable of Onyi Best productions. We just shot the scene last week and I was to play dead in the movie which also stars Ini Edo, Chacha Eke and Walter Anger. It wasn’t really a bad thing that the photos of the scenes are out, after all behind the scenes of other Nollywood movies are usually release, but the problem was the way people misconstrued the image as me being really dead. It was really scary I must say.

How did you first hear about it?
It started on twitter when I started receiving alerts mentions of my name in different conversations and all of them was about Chizzy Alichi shot dead. Then I started getting calls from my friends and families who were worried. Also blackberry pings and so on. I tried to explain to as many as possible that I was live and fine.

Maybe you acted the scenes really well for people to have really believed you were indeed dead?
But that’s too much of a rumour, my intention was just to pass a message. I was just trying to do my job well, I didn’t expect it to degenerate into such scary controversy.

Don’t you think that could have advantage in helping to promote the movie?
Of course it can and I think it has, but we are talking about my emotional and mental safety here. I was really disturbed and scared like I said.

What actually happened to you in the movie, because from the photo I saw, it didn’t look like a gunshot, more like a sharp iron scraped your forehead?
Exactly, it didn’t even look like a gunshot. It was just an accident scene. I don’t think it will be right for me to give out the story lines in the movie. I’m sure people who want to see it will see it when it’s out.

Do you have any role models in the  industry?
Yes, I really admire Stephanie Okereke and Mercy Johnson. Both of them are versatile and have good delivery.

What would you consider your most appealing physical feature that turns heads whenever you pass by?
Apart from my general curves. I think my number one physical asset
and most attractive feature as an actress are my hips.

Do you have any special beauty regimen?
I do a little work out and eat healthy. I also like to be as natural as I can. Just a mild make up. That’s it. When it comes to dressing, I don’t like heavy dressing. I like t keep things as simple as possible.

What’s your vision as an actress?
My vision is to reach the pinnacle of my acting career. I want to make Nigeria and Africa proud.