Linda Obasi, Fragile Warrior
By Amina Nwachukwu
Who Are You?
I’m an actor. Well, first I’m a human being. I’m also a woman. I was born in Nigeria and educated in the US, so I guess that makes me Nigerian-American.
Why Did You Become An Actor?
Ah, the question. I was asked this question on the first day of graduate school; but I didn’t know my answer until three years later, days before graduation.
My first answer, “I love telling stories,” caused the professor to roll his eyes. I thought it was a simple and good answer. I soon learned that simple and good weren’t good enough in that environment. Only the truth was good enough.
The program had been challenging. It felt like a cross between a spiritual retreat and a military boot camp. The training was six days a week from 8am to 10pm and sometimes midnight. It had once been seven days a week until students petitioned for one day off to do their laundry. It was rigorous.
Three years later, in a meeting with the same professor who had asked why I wanted to become an actor, I knew why. I had struggled with seeing color in the world at full saturation. Everything looked and felt drained of color, faded. This wasn’t an optical condition. It was a state of mind. I told him that the only moments I had ever seen full brilliant color were when involved in or experiencing a well-told story, be it on stage or on screen, and often in music. I wanted to see more color.
I got no verbal response from him. He simply turned the opening of a bag of blue tortilla chips in my direction. I reached in and took a chip. I had passed and this blue tortilla chip was my diploma.
I’m not suggesting we use the profession of acting as a cure or a crutch. Drama therapy exists for that purpose. I feel acting is a calling, but if it also heals us, then all the better.
The answer to this question won’t be the same for everyone, but it should be the truth. If you want to be an actor to be seen by influential people who will select you for marriage or a paid fling, admit that, at least to yourself.
What Makes You Stand Out As An Actor?
I would describe myself as a fragile warrior.
In training, we were given career tips and summaries about ourselves as actors. While no one wants to be typecast because this keeps us from exploring and growing, we were taught the importance of knowing our type, especially if we are not yet a big name in the industry. When faced with hundreds of actors to choose from for any given role, the simplest way for casting people to streamline the process is to see us in categories or types. Not knowing how you are seen by others can cost you jobs and leave you struggling to be cast in roles that casting people don’t see you in.
“From one day to the next, I never know if you’re going to save the world or fall apart.”
Those words from an instructor left me fearing that I came across as unstable, until he added, “That dichotomy is interesting to see in an actor onstage.”
It was good to hear that this quality that sometimes caused difficulties in my offstage life, made my stage presence more engaging. Conflict is the core of the drama, and that includes internal conflicts. Without conflict, a struggle, a fight, there is no drama.
The internal conflicts between my sensitivity and my desire to cause a positive social impact are what make me a fragile warrior.
What types of work have you done?
I had solid training for my theatre background so for many years I worked on stage in productions including Shakespeare, Lorca, Williams, Wilson, and contemporary Off-Broadway shows and beyond. Classical voice training gave me skills to perform in musicals and plays with music. Recently, more of my work has been in film and television, as well as voice-over work, modeling, and brand ambassadorship.
I speak English, Igbo, Spanish, and bits of Gaelic, Mandarin, Amharic, and Hindu. I’m working on Hausa and Yoruba, to broaden the work I can be considered for in the Nigerian film industry, which I call Nicinema
Website: https://lindaobasi.nyc/
IG: @lindaobasi
FB: Linda Obasi
TW: @LindaObasi3
Keywords: Linda Obasi, Nicinema, Nollywood, actor, Nigeria, African film, drama, conservatory, Hollywood, drama therapy, MFA, fragile warrior, theatre
