Oris Erhuero recently starred in the Nollywood film, A Sunday Affair, where he played Sunday, the man who had fallen head over heels in love with two best friends and had to make a potentially disastrous choice. His performance and striking facial features piqued our interest as a fashion and lifestyle media platform. It’s not surprising to us then to discover, upon research, that he spent his early years modelling for top global brands, including Christian Dior, Armani, Gianni Versace, Gaultier, Moschino, Vivienne Westwood, etc. This will not be the first time we have spotted his face in a Nollywood film. Erhuero made an appearance earlier in Ishaya Bako’s ‘Road to Yesterday,’ released in 2015. This reappearance of the familiar face in Nollywood now sparks even more interest and curiosity to learn more about the star who interestingly was raised in Nigeria, the US, and the UK, and an exploration of the many sides to the life of the man—as an actor, an accomplished model, as a cigar connoisseur, and his off-screen personality.
Oris Erhuero had been in the game for over 28 years. His career came from an unexpectedly different angle, but in hindsight, he is confident he was designed to be where he is today. Matter of fact, he thought he would foray into music, but many years later, he tells us in clear terms that acting is his true calling. It’s what pays the bills, but beyond that, it’s what makes him who he is today. ‘You know, I came through the commercial and fashion industry. Originally, I thought it was gonna be into music, but this was my calling, and this is what paid my bills. This is what made me pretty much who I am today.’ Because, for him, acting pays the bills, one would assume he went with the money. But, he clarifies that ‘For me, the money, I was always told, would come in as long as I kept at it.’
It all started with a photographer friend who nudged and encouraged him to transition into acting because he possesses the “attributes of an actor”. His friend saw it in the way he deeply understood the essence of it, but to get noticed, he ought to move to the commercial industry. ‘He said, “I see you as an actor. You have the attribute of an actor. You studied it. You understand it.”’
So, he began auditioning for commercials. Oris Erhuero just wanted to enjoy himself by travelling and getting paid for it while saving up to move to Los Angeles and audition for the appropriate projects. ‘And he said, you can have the opportunity to save this money. So when you move to LA, you know, and this time I was in New York, but living in Miami, you take this money, save it, then you can actually sit in LA and audition for the right projects. And it just so happened that it came to me, you know, at the height of the fashion and commercial world. It came to me through the casting directors who were casting for commercials. You know, Coca-Cola, beer ads, this, that, these commercial directors have their commercial money, but in reality, a lot of them are casting for TVs and films.’ For him, the route to it was spot on. It made sense. As one who now owns his own production company Tactical Films, he had access to anyone. He didn’t necessarily need to wait to do everything that came with it. It was a similar path for many of his peers, think Halley Berry, Wesley Snipes, etc., who all penetrated the film industry through commercial modelling and music videos. He also did lots of music videos himself.
The sweet spot of it all for him was that while he was paying the bills and extending his business potential, he was doing what he loved and wanted to do in life. He admits that a lot of the folks went into the industry motivated by the need to survive, especially his generation, and a lot of that still stands in today’s world. But for Erhuero, he took advice from people before him, people who had the eye, people who had an understanding, and he leaned in the right direction. Twenty-eight years later, he’s proud of where he is, making a difference and doing what he loves, gaining a lot of experience and living comfortably, and moving stronger into diverse avenues and improved etiquette at work.
His journey started in 1994, and in 1995/1996, he landed his first TV series, The Adventures of Sinbad. He hadn’t moved to Los Angeles at the time. The industry came to him. In the African film industry, however, not a lot of Erhuero’s face had been seen yet. He took a walk down memory lane to talk about how he got into African films.
‘I think my first African calling was the Rwandan movie with Raoul Peck, whom I’ve worked (with) three times now, the Oscar-nominated (for I Am Not Your Negro documentary) filmmaker. I think he really opened that door because here I was doing a film in Rwanda about the Rwandan genocide, Sometimes in April. That was the moment the rest of Africa was like, “Whoa”, because here I was speaking in the terms of a typical African man with African attributes. I think that was my moment to give a taste to my fellow country filmmakers what I’m capable of. I think that’s when they realised, “Oh wait a minute!”’
Oris Erhuero, Modaculture Digital, May – June 2023
On Oris Erhuero’s First Real Intimacy With Nollywood
The fifty-five-year-old star recalls his first real intimacy with Nollywood two decades ago. ‘Also, when the first Nollywood forum came to Los Angeles, I was the MC that received the likes of Omotola, Lancelot, Stella, Dakore, you know, it was twenty-something years ago. I was approached with this idea; they wanted to bring Nollywood to Hollywood and bring these two parts together. They brought me in as the host. It was at that moment that that connection was made. You know, Lancelot had told me, “My brother, we love your work in Sometimes in April. We are looking forward to seeing you cross over to our side, supporting the industry and working together.” So, the seed was planted after Sometimes in April because that was a big one, you know, it was an HBO film nominated for awards.’
He continues talking about Sometimes in April, with a sense of pride, ‘It was big and it was a big subject. You don’t walk into that telling a true story of the Rwanda genocide just twiddling your tongue. It was my calling card. Everyone in LA, around the world, till this day, that’s what people would really refer to. That movie! When I walk into meetings, to this day, people still talk about it. So that was the movie that brought me close to Nollywood. And then when that seed was formed in Los Angeles when we came together, and then I was able to extend that moment, it sat on everyone, and what it says was: when the right moment comes along, we would work together. I didn’t want to just jump in. I wanted to do it with style. I wanted to do it well and represent it well. It wouldn’t be right to just rush in. That’s when the likes of The Cursed Ones we did in Ghana, which won 5 awards from the AMAA, that’s when Peace, may her soul rest in peace, gave me my first AMAA nomination and then, Road to Yesterday was the second one and then this one, A Sunday Affair. And each of these movies has significant milestones. They gave me the boost to look forward to future collaborations.’
After he met Ishaka Bako, the director of Road to Yesterday and Genevieve Nnaji, his co-star who would later make Netflix’s first Nigerian original film Lion Heart, the seeds planted during the encounter with the Nollywood icons started to sprout. ‘And that’s when everything started to click. That’s the calling. I didn’t just walk into Nollywood. And I think everyone’s intentions, from Lancelot to all the generations in Nollywood at that time, they wanted me to keep building because they said to me, “A time would come when your purpose would serve Nigeria well, so it wasn’t just Nollywood, it was your purpose.”
And so when we did Road to Yesterday, that was when Netflix was just coming in with the streaming service, and it really, and this isn’t just me saying this, but a lot of people said this, that was what really broke the grounds for that Nollywood-Hollywood merge. Because it made Netflix go, “Whoa, wait a minute, what just happened? Who is this guy? Who is this woman?” Well, that’s Genevieve. She’s the biggest star in Nigeria. And they were like, “Oh wow!” and boom! It just struck. And they were like, “We got something.” That’s something I don’t hear a lot in conversations with people outside Netflix. That’s where Fifty came in and all these other films. I have to give it to Genny. We cracked that. We did something different, so different that people didn’t know what to make of it at that time. I give kudos to Genevieve and the team for making that happen. I can’t let that slide.’
Oris Erhuero, Modaculture Digital, May – June 2023
Speaking of Road to Yesterday, it heralded the influx of Netflix, alongside other streaming platforms to Nollywood, with the making of Netflix and Genevieve Nnaji’s Lion Heart, which brought global attention to Nigeria’s film industry. After that, the streaming platform stayed fixated on Nigerian and African movies, an indication of the booming global interest in Nollywood, especially with Prime Video recently coming into Nigeria as well. With this increased attention comes another crucial conversation about the future of the Nollywood industry and Black Excellence for its stars. The veteran actor shares his thoughts on this trajectory.
‘Oh! It says a lot. Whether we like it or not, someone can right now, if they do their homework, do a mega movie in Ogun, Benin, Warri, and hit it hard. The world would come,’ mentioning that the priority of actors should not be to rush to break into Hollywood, ‘we have to tell our stories right where we are. Yes, to answer your question. It puts us in a very powerful space. We are living it. So, on a selfish level, if we do well in Africa and they come to us, we have won. We don’t need anyone else. We need to keep winning in the continent. We gotta do it as the Indians do it. This era is powerful, and if nobody is seeing that, then they’re not ready,’ Oris Erhuero declares.
He continues on the gospel of Nollywood as the future, ‘Hollywood is a state of mind. It’s right here. It’s right now, thanks to the streaming service because there’s many more coming in.’ His key message is to build because ‘you can make it right where you are.’
EbonyLife’s A Sunday Affair is one movie that caught quite the attention of many. As Erhuero attests, the sheer brilliance and excellence of the cast of the crew he experienced was a testament to the evolution and growth of the industry. ‘A Sunday Affair, to me, was more than just making a movie. It was seeing the level at which the industry had come. From the cast to the crew and the costume, it was an all-women crew; they were spot on. I couldn’t tell the difference if I was on set in London or LA.’ He notes that he experienced a high level of professionalism. ‘I was comfortable, and comfortable means just getting my work done because most of those crew came from Road to Yesterday, especially the sound crew. It’s like coming home to meet my family.’ He was proud of the growth and talent and seeing young persons he had known as assistants grow to own their brands. ‘It was a great set; everyone there was mature and grown. It’s like we could have done ten of those. Everybody was very passionate about what they were doing. I had no complaints. And that, to me, was very significant. Everyone was driven, and the energy was right.’
His thoughts on the character “Sunday” and his dilemma were revealing. ‘I feel sorry for Sunday, and it was nice to see the vulnerability of the character because, at the end of the day, they were three consenting adults. His dilemma was an accident; an accident that led him to fall in love with two women, something that happens every day but no one dares talk about. He was kind to both of them. He had empathy for them. We can say this; he had empathy, he had love and wasn’t ashamed to say, “Hey, I’m in love.” He wasn’t ashamed of it, and that, to me, was very difficult. It was very hard to play that. But has that happened to a majority of people I talk to now who have seen the movie? Absolutely! People are telling me, “Thank you for that. It was so revealing. So refreshing.” Women reached out to me to say, “You remind me of my dad’s character.”
We are talking about a society where men married 2 or 3 wives, but at the end of the day, you got a man here trying to do the right thing, you know. But it’s a different generation now. You can’t talk that talk now.
But, to see a man, to see his vulnerability, I had to play that. I had to step into the heat. It’s a very tricky character.’
On The Highs and Lows of Playing Pretend for a Living
Oris Erhuero’s most challenging role so far was playing Honoré in Sometimes in April, the film about the genocide in Rwanda, which exposed him to the level of power we, as humans, have over consequential decisions. ‘It helped me understand the power of ethics as an actor,’ he shared. ‘It was a difficult character because I felt like I was at a deep end of where the actor would go. I mean, we are talking about a movie that used conflict resolution. It’s talked about in universities across the rest of the world. To this very day, I’m talking to professors, I’m talking to people in the UN, especially with the Sudan conflict, people are having these discussions behind the scenes. And that movie is one movie people always refer to, and I know why; because it was a very very difficult responsibility. That’s a movie that really made me work. It helped me understand the power of work ethics as an actor.’
‘To be able to go inside the mind of that man, to go inside the mind of someone who is responsible for the lives of many people, for me as a human being, that’s some heavy stuff. That’s heavy. I’d rather fall in love! (laughs) But it helped. It makes things that come to me very easy to play, not all the time, though. I mean, A Sunday Affair was very tricky. It was difficult to play, you know, because you’re also dealing with love, and love is not so easy either. Yeah! Two incredible extremes, yeah?’
Oris Erhuero, Modaculture Digital, May – June 2023
We start to quiz him about a character he had played in his career so far but which, in contrast, he disliked. After so many years in the industry, Erhuero has not one character he dislikes. And he has never repeated himself. ‘No, to be very honest, I have some films coming out, and you know, for me, it’s a lot more challenging because when I go through it as a human being, it takes me to another level of life. And I fight not to repeat myself. So, for example, you saw A Sunday Affair, that’s not the guy from Road to Yesterday, and that’s why it’s very difficult for people to typecast me. That’s why most people until they research me like you, won’t know who I am because you know why? I won’t repeat myself. You have to go, “Oh my goodness, is that the same guy from the zombie movie? Is that the same guy that played the thug in LA?” That’s one of the things I’ve been advised to do—challenge myself, don’t repeat it. Every time you get something, go higher, go deeper. That’s what I did. So I don’t get a pass or a slide on that side. Mmm mm. I don’t. I can’t because the moment that happens, I should be worried. That’s not good.’
For most artists, being able to choose what they want to do is one goal they desire to attain. For Oris Erhuero, the story is the same. His career highlight is not so much about him. ‘It’s being in a position after all these years where I get the offers, and I’m making the decision. “This is what I want to do,” and the fact that we have the streaming service now and many other avenues, it’s my career highlight. The fact that I’m part of an era today where it’s a lot easier now to get a film done and get out there. But that came with the fact that the likes of me had to be in the game for a very long time. So the longer I have been in the game is my highlight. The way I would describe it, the fact that I’ve been doing it this long and it’s only getting better, is my highlight.’
‘Because for me to pick a movie and say that was my greatest highlight is wrong because it goes much higher and higher every day; it gets very different. It shifts every day for me, and I think it’s life, and the spiritual way of life has designed me not to get too comfortable, to keep looking forward and saying, “Whooa, I’m looking forward to where this is gonna go.” So when I walk into things, to have that faith, that attitude to say, “I don’t know where this is going,” but I’m gonna give it my best. So for me, the era is the highlight because many many many years ago before my time, there were a lot of actors, they would get on a TV show, and you’d never hear of them again. That’s it. And for me to have taken a journey that has taken me to be where I’m at today, I’m blessed. That’s the highlight. The journey is the highlight.’
Oris Erhuero, Modaculture Digital, May – June 2023
‘The journey is the highlight’ is a statement that carries so much weight with not-so-subtle undertones of deep gratitude; one needs to appreciate the actor’s journey. Twenty-eight years, a Screen Nation Film and Television Award Win for Favourite Screen Personality (The Cursed Ones), a Ghana Movie Award for ‘Best Leading Actor’ (Road to Yesterday, which peaked at five stars on Netflix), An HBO UASE Festival Award for ‘Best Actor’ (Redcon1-Zombie Apocalypse), an African Movie Academy Awards nomination for ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role’ (The Cursed Ones), a Black Reel Award Nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ (Sometimes in April), and many other career recognitions later, it is safe to say it must not have been easy for Oris Erhueoro to rise to the top. But what was that moment in his career timeline that inspired this sense of fulfilment, gratitude and the sheer satisfaction of accomplishment? He points back to Sometimes in April again. ‘I would say after Sometimes in April, my time in Rwanda dealing with humanity on a whole ‘nother level and going on to work with Raoul Peck three times, that’s, I mean, we’re talking Raoul Peck, he’s one of the greatest directors out there, Oscar-nominated, it doesn’t get better than that for a Black director, I mean he is king.’
‘That shifted things for me as an actor. It made me respect the game on a whole ‘nother level; what it really takes to do your homework as an actor because, as actors, we are storytellers. Our job description is the understudying of human beings. That’s our job, to go places that, sometimes, we never dare to go, to tell a story, if that makes any sense. It’s not glamorous. Sometimes, you have to go to some very dark places you don’t wanna go to tell authentic stories.’
Oris Erhuero possesses a lot of range, showing a lot of flexibility and diversity with his roles, from horror action to romantic drama; it’s easy to wonder how he smoothly blends into these roles and navigates the characters. His modus operandi is being deeply present, honest and sincere, and being willing and open to go to places, at any given second, for the story to make headway. ‘I forbid myself from coming in because I did something yesterday. I always come in brand new. I always come in fresh. I come in with the intention to discover. So for me, it’s always about being present. I’ve always said to myself, “I have to be willing to embrace however this goes down and just hold on to the essence of the story and keep it moving.” So that’s how I’ve always approached my work, and again, I can’t think about what I did yesterday unless, in this situation, you asked me about it, but it’s constantly paying attention to the human being, to the person that this story is about and questioning that situation and those circumstances.’
On Oris Erhuero’s Lifestyle as a Cigar Aficionado and Insights Into Cigar Smoking in Africa
His life transcends showing up every day and playing pretend for a living. He is a man who loves his cigar, a cigar collector himself and has quite some insights about the cigar culture. ‘I use it as part of my work. It helps me. It’s my relaxing moment where I celebrate my accomplishment of the week. I’m part of a lot of cigar clubs around the world, and I have to say that one of my proudest moments was being recognised in the cigar world last year, where I won the “Cigar Smoker of the Year”. This is something a lot of cigar aficionados like me, who are also great artists, have won, and to win that was big for me.’
‘The cigar, for me, is a license to a world of endless conversations and understanding human beings. So for me, the cigar has always been something I respectfully do. For me, it’s a healthy habit. Healthy because of the people I smoke with and the conversations that it would lead me to, which also helps me in my work as an actor when I need to think when I need to go in a bit deeper.’
Oris Erhuero, Modaculture Digital, May – June 2023
For Oris Erhueor, some new milestones are also in the pipeline. He desires to create that cigar that would spark and bring people together and help them have endless conversations beyond their wildest dreams. ‘That would be one of the greatest milestones ever, to have that cigar that would bring together people from around the world, not because I am behind it, but because it’s a damn good premium cigar.’
He shared some insightful thoughts on the cigar culture in Africa, which he described as beautiful. ‘You need to understand that we have one of the most powerful aspects of cigar in history, the “Cameroon Wrapper”, which is from the region in West Africa.’
‘I think the rest of the world underestimates African cigar smokers. What they don’t know is that a lot of the biggest spenders, the majority of them, are out of Africa. And I know that because when I go to Africa when I go to Lagos, that part of Africa, I’m in the room smoking with people you least think would smoke cigars, and so, the cigar culture in Africa is thriving. The people in those rooms, if the political leaders would sit down and smoke with them, Africa would be the perfect place to be. I’m sorry, but a lot of the crises you see going on in Africa would never happen. And I daresay, they would never happen because when you light that cigar, it’s a gentleman and a woman’s moment of peace, of constructive conversation. There are a lot of women who smoke alongside them, so the conversation we have is about real talk. A good cigar could lead you to a conflict resolution. The conversations are out of this world. So yeah, my opinion is that the cigar culture in Africa is mindblowing.’
On What It Truly Takes to Rise to the Top
Channelling the conversation back to the film industry, in his experience being a filmmaker and actor over the years, he acknowledged how challenging it was to rise to the top. Describing his experience, he shared that it was like anything else in life, challenging.‘I think, like anything else in life, we need to understand there are more and more people in the world today. So, everybody wants to be a doctor, everybody wants to be a lawyer, everybody wants to be an actor, everybody wants to be an artist, and that has always grown, that would always get high, that would always grow into a place where people would have to rethink their strategy and really really be incredibly good and “wanting it”, so I would say, like everything else in life, it is challenging, but it has its very rewarding moment when you accomplish certain things; when you get a gig and the fact that people are watching it, you don’t necessarily have to be praised for it. I mean, lawyers don’t get more props, and doctors don’t get a prop for saving people’s lives. At the end of the day, it’s very important to know that, for me, it’s very rewarding when people watch your work, despite the challenges, it’s very rewarding when people are entertained when people are like, “Wow, I saw your work,” good or bad, the fact that someone is even having a conversation about something you did, it’s very rewarding for me as an artist.’
For someone of Oris Erhuero’s calibre and level of experience in the bag, there must have been some sort of intentionality with his career, which begs the question, ‘What did it really take Oris Erhuero to rise to the top in the film industry?’ His response: ‘Lots of prayers’.
‘Like anything else, you need prayers. No matter what belief system you are, whether Muslim, Christian, Juju or whatever it is you’re into, you need to really use it on your level. You need to put humanity first. It needs to be about making sure people are happy. It’s about creating happiness, creating that happiness for yourself as well as others, so for me, I would have to go back to the basis—lots of prayers.
You need it, especially if you’re in a business that attracts all kinds of human beings, all kinds of souls; you hardly know the reason some people are in the business and what their intentions are, and you know, you have to work with these people. It’s a business where even if you don’t like someone, you have to work with them, especially if you know they are good at what they do. You can’t discard them because “who you don’t like, someone else will like”. So, to get through that, to navigate through that, because you’re dealing with human souls, you need a lot of prayers because, without that, you can’t function. It’s like the blind leading the blind. So I would go back to basics. I would go back to that place of prayer.’
Oris Erhuero, in Redcon1-Zombie Apocalypse
Being a person of colour made the experience and journey in the industry different for Oris Erhuero. ‘In the West, being black, trying to navigate an industry dominated by the Europeans and the Americans, made the journey different. For me, as a Nigerian, as an African, I’m lucky, very lucky. I grew up in Nigeria as a kid. My parents are from Nigeria, so I’m very fortunate. The weight is not so heavy. I’m very fortunate, and a lot of Nigerians and West African actors in the West who have access to go home should be very lucky. Thanks to the streaming service, the weight is not so burdening or heavy on me as it would be for a lot of Black people living in the West or America who don’t have Africa as a home or as a backdrop to go to. You know I just finished a film in Senegal the other day. Look how easy it is for me to come home, to go to any part of West Africa, even South Africa.
Not a lot of Black people in the industry today can really say that, unless you are in the position of me, the Idris Elbas, the Damson Idrises; all these incredible talents with a West African background. I would say West Africa because we are fully dominating the film industry down to Cannes, down to the big awards, so unless you’re part of that, but if you’re not part of that, it’s heavy. It’s really really heavy. I’ve seen it. It’s heavy. For me, it’s not so much. When I first started in the West, it was harsh, it was by the grace of God, when I think about it, that I worked my way through, but now it’s different. We don’t have any excuse anymore because, back to what you and I were saying, we have our own place. We have our home now. We are loved. We are blessed. But back then, the last few years, not so much, I walk with my head up high, but 5-10 years ago, it wasn’t so.’
The full digital version of this story is available here.
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