{"id":235523,"date":"2025-09-09T15:40:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T15:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.name.ng\/news\/nollywood-needs-talent-not-just-beauty-kanayo\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T15:40:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T15:40:11","slug":"nollywood-needs-talent-not-just-beauty-kanayo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/nollywood-needs-talent-not-just-beauty-kanayo\/","title":{"rendered":"Nollywood Needs Talent, Not Just Beauty \u2013 Kanayo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"mvp-content-main\">\n<h2>Veteran Nollywood actor <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/naijanews.com\/topic\/kanayo-kanayo\">Kanayo O. Kanayo<\/a> has raised concern about what he sees as a growing problem in the Nigerian movie industry, especially with productions on YouTube.<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Abia Radio News<\/strong> reports that the thespian said that too much attention is now being given to actors who are considered popular faces, instead of focusing on true acting skills.<\/p>\n<p>Kanayo, whose real name is Anayo Modestus Onyekwere, has been in the industry for more than three decades and is remembered for his role in the 1992 film Living in Bondage.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-3 ai-track\" data-ai=\"WzMsMCwiSXNhYWMiLCIiLDRd\" style=\"margin: 8px auto; text-align: center; display: block; clear: both;\">\n<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSd3GiRw0g6bOS3kAtHb1Yhc5Jic6iTkM9pA5DhIB13uZgDpGQ\/viewform?usp=sharing&amp;ouid=102633326415294296882\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Over the years, he has remained one of the strong voices pushing for growth and quality in Nollywood.<\/p>\n<p>In the message shared on his Instagram page, the actor explained that he would use his own platform to give chances to fresh talents who may not be widely known but can perform well.<\/p>\n<p>He stated that movie production is not about appearance but about acting ability.<\/p>\n<p>The actor recalled how in the early days of Nollywood, some sponsors sidelined actors because they believed certain faces could not sell movies, which led to many careers being cut short.<\/p>\n<p>He said the same practice is reappearing today on digital platforms, with a small group of popular actors dominating the space while new talents struggle to break through.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, relying only on a few familiar names discourages creativity and prevents upcoming actors from getting noticed.<\/p>\n<p>He added that he does not want to be cast in movies simply because of his reputation but because of his ability to deliver.<\/p>\n<p>Kanayo promised to keep supporting young and unknown actors through his YouTube channel, inviting them to work with him in creating original stories.<\/p>\n<p>He expressed his frustration over the current situation but also remained hopeful that the industry would eventually overcome this challenge.<\/p>\n<p>He said: <em>\u201cI have decided to take my destiny in my own hands as it pertains to my platform on YouTube. Movie making is not about having a fine face, it\u2019s about being a good actor, a good performer. So, with or without a fine face, that\u2019s what I\u2019ve decided to do. If you don\u2019t like it, well, that\u2019s quite unfortunate.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThere was an incident many years ago when we were trying to bring up this Nollywood business, about 25 years ago. Some sponsors woke up and started branding actors: \u2018this one is not a good one, this one does not sell films.\u2019 They killed the careers of those guys. I can mention names, but for the sanctity of this broadcast, I won\u2019t.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSuch a thing is beginning to rear its ugly head again. The acclaimed YouTube faces are beginning to bring up the same thing, killing talents in the industry.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSome of these guys will tell you they are not free from September 2025 till August 2026. How then do we sustain the content you watch? How do we create magic? How do we encourage new actors to come into the business? I don\u2019t want any producer to call me for a job because I\u2019m a selling face on any platform. Call me because I can deliver.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIf you\u2019re a new face, come on, let\u2019s do magic on Kanayo O. Kanayo TV on YouTube. Let\u2019s create stories with people who can deliver, who can act.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI don\u2019t know why when things come to Nigeria, there\u2019s always a somersault, and this somersault is happening now on YouTube. But I want to employ my life\u2019s philosophy to say: this too shall pass.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 4 --><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><span class=\"copyright\"><strong>\u00a9 2025 Abia Radio News, a division of  Tee Global Innnovations  [abiaradios@gmail.com].  [email\u00a0protected]<\/strong><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran Nollywood actor Kanayo O. Kanayo has raised concern about what he sees as a growing problem in the Nigerian movie industry, especially with productions on YouTube. Abia Radio News reports that the thespian said that too much attention is now being given to actors who are considered popular faces, instead of focusing on true [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":235524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[1939],"class_list":["post-235523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-kanaya-o-kanayo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Kanayo-O-Kanayo-1-1000x600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}