Nonso Anozie – Actor
Nonso Anozie is a British actor born in 1978. In the summer of 2002 he became the youngest person in history to play William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” at the National Theatre and won the Ian Charleson Award and the Shanghai Magnolia Award for his performance as Othello. Other main roles at the National Theatre include, World Music, The Water Diviner’s Tale, White Folk, The Box, Sundance and Sweeney Todd. Nonso most recently played ‘ Burke’ in The Grey, ‘‘Artus’ in Conan the Barbarian. Tank’ in RocknRolla, ‘Erik Lester’ in the BBCs Occupation, and played the star role in the feature film Cass where he won the Screen Nation Award for Emerging Talent. Other TV and film roles include Prime Suspect, Nights Out at the Empire, Happy-Go-Lucky, Atonement and The Last Legion,
Hi Nonso and thank you for taking the time out to speak to Media Volt.
ITS BEEN A BUSY FEW YEARS FOR YOU, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR BEST ACHIEVEMENTS HAVE BEEN SO FAR?
Well I don’t think of any of my achievements as better or worse than any of the others. I just thank God that I wake up everyday and I get to do what I’ve dreamed of doing since I was a child. My first job (title role king Lear) was most definitely the job that set me apart as it was and is very unusual to see a 23 year old black man playing that role. It did my career a lot of good.
HOW MUCH DO YOU DRAW UPON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE WHEN YOU ACT?
I like the characters I play to come from a real place so i do draw upon my own experiences quite a bit. This helps me mainly for the emotion that my character might be feeling. Although the characters walk, posture, accent and energy comes from other people that I have observed and taken as part of the character that I create.
AS WE KNOW, THE ACTING INDUSTRY CAN BE HARD. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE SOMEONE TRYING TO GET INTO ACTING?
it is very very very hard. be under no illusion. If you can see your self doing something else then I urge you to go and do that. But if you are like many of the afflicted (laughs) and cant see your self doing anything else then my advice to you is to work your ass off to stay ready at all times. Opportunity met with preparation adds up to success! most people get opportunities when they have been out of work for a long time and are not in the right place spiritually, mentally or physically to make the best of it as they haven’t taken the time to stay ready!!!
AND HOW DID YOU START?
I started by getting involved in schools plays and after school projects, then during my a levels I got involved with Talawa theatre company’s summer school (I am now Talawa’s patron) that was the place that I really got to have fun and explore the craft. It really pushed me. At 19 I auditioned for the central school of speech and drama as it was the only drama school at the time that I wanted to attend. I was unsuccessful the first time round but I came back the next year and was accepted. That was how I started out.
I have to say, I loved the film Cass. Is this a story you knew about beforehand and how did you go about researching for the role?
Well I cant really say that I’m a football person. So I had not heard about Cass before meeting for the project. I knew that I had to do a lot of research before playing the role so I read his autobiography and was immediately drawn in to his amazing life story.
Knowing all the facts was one thing but I had to play this man so I spent three months visiting him and his family a few times a week. It was this way that I was able to pick up his walk his talk and various twitches and sniffs. It was a lot of fun and I’m glad it has been so well received.
YOU’VE ALREADY WON MANY AWARDS AND HOPEFULLY THERE WILL BE MORE TO COME. WHICH ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
I’m happy whenever my work gets recognized but the one that I am most happy about is my Magnolia award for best actor which I received for playing Othello in Hongkong. That award was great because it was an entirely different culture saying that “we like your work”. it was also the first time they had given this award to someone who wasn’t Chinese, so there is a bit of history too. I’m also very fond of my screen nation award as it is a very very warm feeling you receive when your own people give you the seal of approval!
SO WHAT PROJECTS ARE THERE TO COME IN 2012?
The new year is also exciting as I have some work to do in the US which I cant yet talk about. The future does look good.
Date 18 February 2010 | Category: Interview | No comment