Meet Sammy Iheanacho- Fast Rising Nollywood Actor

Please tell me your name?

My name is Sammy Iheanacho.

Can you tell us more
about yourself?

I have a lot to talk about myself. I am from umuahia in Abia
State though I grew up in the North, Kaduna Precisely. I am the sixth of seven
children.  I am a graduate of Economics.
I have BSc in Economics University of Abuja and I have done the compulsory on your National Youth Service(NYSC).

I am an actor and an intending producer because I have some
movies I’m working on presently to produce which will be coming up very Simon. On the aspect of acting, Yes I have been in to acting for some years now.
I actually started acting in 2004 from Kaduna that’s where I registered with
Actors Guild of Nigeria.

I did my first movie, “Asunder”. Asunder was a great movie
that was directed by Obi Okoli, a veteran Director and I was opportune to play
alongside, Patience Ozokwor who acted as my mother, Amaechi Muonagor, and some
other actors. 

After that, I moved to Abuja, 2007 and identified with AGN Abuja.  I was able to secure a role in a
TV soap Opera called “Seperated”. I believe many people knew when “Separated” was
running on AIT owned by Tajudeen Adepetu the same owner of Domino. I played a
lead character in “Seperated” which was directed by Kabat Esosa Egbon.  “Seperated” 
was on air for two-three years.  Recently
they started showing this same “Separated” on Televista DSTV Channel 165 every
Saturday by 6:30.

I have also starred in movies like “The Bond”,  which was directed by Papel, I played a
sub-Lead. Another set of great movie that I did that brought me to lime light
is Ladies men and Ladies Gang which were shot in 2011/2012 though the have been
in the market all this while. They web produced BY Stanley Ebonine and directed by Afam Okereke. They featured
Funke Akindele, Mercy Johnson,  Halima
Abubakar, Samuel Iheanacho, Daniel K Daniel who won the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award(AMVCA). It also
featured actors like Chigozie Atuanya, 
Femi Adebayo, Alex Ekubo, Queen
Nwokoye. I did another movie titled “Tears of a child” and I
was opportune to play alongside Ini Edo and Oge Okoye. It was shot in Lagos and directed by
Ifeanyi Ogbonna in 2012/2013.

I also featured in “Brides War”. It featured Ini Edo, Tonto
Dike, John Dumelo, Nonso Diobi and other great Actors. 

God has been faithful to me since I got in to the industry.  I have actually been working with stars which
has helped me build a good profile in the industry.

I went on break for a while for some personal reasons. Apart
from acting, I am also an Entrepreneur but I am back to the movie industry
full time and I have done A good number of jobs. Some are in the market and some
are yet to go in to the market.I have done like six movies since I got back in
2017. I have done movies like “Going to Malaysia” which will soon be aired on
Iroko TV. It was produced by Chris Oge Kalu. It featured actors like Vincent
Opurum, Paul Sambo, Sammy Iheanacho, Tony Goodman and Victor Odeka. 

Please, my fans, watch out for that movie. A
different style of Sammy Iheanacho is going to be seen there, I played
something contrary to the Nollywood fine boy role, that’s why it is good to be
versatile which is one of the qualities of a good actor.   I have also done another movie “Two
Brothers. Two Brothers is a comic kind of movie. I was opportune to play alongside
Collins Muonagor(Nche Security), Directed by
Ifeanyi Ikwoenyi  Mr Hollywood.

I was also in “Switch” Directed by Tola Balogun. It featured
Esther Audu, Rachael Bakam(Rachael the Piper), John Fashanu, Chuks Chike, Sammy Iheanacho and Ella Avong. It has a good story line and so many other movies. I am presently working on a movie which the name is
not yet out but as soon as the name is out I will let my fans know.  

 

Who is your role
model in the movie industry?

I look up to so many people in the industry. Nollywood has a
lot of fantastic actors but if I will have to say It is Ramsey Nouah.

Why Ramsey Nouah?

I grew up watching Ramsey Nouah doing a lot of movies that
was when Nollywood came in to existence. He is an articulate actor, he is a
very brilliant actor, I love the way he interprets his roles and he is very
good at it. One of the qualities of a good actor is the way he interpret his role. When you are given a script the attitude you put towards acting matters a lot. Having that charisma, you don’t just act as if you are reading a script
you act as if you are the one that the situation has happened to. It is you
putting yourself into another person’s life situation. One thing I like about
Ramsey Nouah is that he acts his roles very well and he interprets the
characters very wonderfully.  Mike
Ezuruonye is another person I look up to.

 

Are You single?

Yes.  Sam Iheanacho is
Single.

What qualities do you
expect your prospective wife to possess?

What message do you have for your fans and what should they
expect from you?

 My great fans, I thank you guys for being there for me. It
is not easy for people to just like you but no matter what you do people will
like you and people will hate you, so you do not expect 100%. But I’m promising
my great fans they will get better works from me. The best of Sammy Iheanacho
is yet to come and I promise to give the best. I want to be that actor people
can emulate.

Advice to upcoming
actors?

My advice to upcoming actors those that decided to come in
to the movie industry. Be very prayerful. 
Before you go out for any audition, surrender yourself to God and tell
him you are going out let him lead you through the right path. It is only God
that can make someone a star.

Before going for an audition, look yourself in the mirror,
whatsoever you see in the mirror is what you are going to show to other people.
So if what you see in the mirror is no nice it means you need to work more on
yourself. You must be very fluent in English, be good in writing and good diction.  

Avoid too many friends and make it business.

You can follow me on Instagram and Facebook; @sammy_iheanacho and
Iheanacho Sammy respectively.