Kenneth Okonkwo won't return to Nollywood acting

Living in Bondage actor, Kenneth Okonkwo, won't resume his Nollywood acting career until Nigeria is a better country than the United States of America.

With more than 30 years of work in the industry, the trained lawyer has grown as a political figure over the past few years, serving as a spokesperson of the Peter Obi campaign for the 2023 presidential election.

In a March 23, 2024 interview on the Mic On podcast, Okonkwo said he moved to politics to save Nigeria from ruin. He noted that his political activities and his other interests mean he has little time for acting.

"I made a fortune as a Nollywood actor. It was just 2020 that I decided to start winding up," he said. "I've made a determination for that to decrease so that my fight for a new Nigeria will increase. I've seen roles and turned them down, there's no time anymore for it (acting)," he added.

Kenneth Okonkwo isn't retiring from Nollywood

The trained lawyer says he can assume other roles in the film industry [Twitter/@realkenokonkwo] Pulse Nigeria

The Labour Party (LP) official emphasised that his withdrawal from the screen doesn't mean he's definitively retiring from the industry. He said a part of him in Nollywood would always remain alive forever, and he could always build a film school, or become an executive producer.

The 55-year-old said the only thing that could ever lure him to return to the front of the camera as an actor is "if Nigeria becomes better than America."

He said, "The possibility is there because we have all it takes — men, materials, money. One thing that's lacking is the power to combine, utilise and allocate these resources optimally to produce the desired goods and services that will make us achieve our objectives."

Okonkwo made his name as an actor playing Andy Okeke, the lead character in the 1992 Nollywood classic, Living in Bondage, and reprised his role in the film's 2019 sequel, Living in Bondage: Breaking Free. He's also featured in over 100 other films including Arusi-Iyi, Oganigwe, World Apart, and Wives on Strike.