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Star Actress, SHAFFY BELLO
She is everyone’s favourite. It is almost impossible for any avid Nollywood fan to do a list of their top five favourite Naija actresses and you won’t find Shaffy Bello’s name popping up repeatedly on that list. Many can’t help but admire her uncanny ability to interpret her roles in a way very few thespians can. Shaffy Bello is a phenomenal actress. When she steps on the set to deliver her script, only very few can hold a candle close to her. Shaffy knows her craft. She stormed the movie industry years ago and it took her only a short while to hit it big. This is a testament of her immense talent.
City People Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) spent some really quality time gisting with this absolutely gorgeous looking lady who, by the way, is already 55 years old but certainly doesn’t look it one bit. She doesn’t look anything like the mother of two adult children that she is. Shaffy opened up on why she sacrificed her marriage for her movie career and why she has no regrets taking that huge decision. She also spoke about her background and family. Enjoy excerpts of the interview.
I must commend you for the great strides you have recorded in the movie industry within such a very short time. How did you do it?
Let me quickly say this, luck had nothing to do with what happened to me. Luck had nothing to do with it. Its called preparation meets opportunity. Luck had nothing to do with it.And I’ll tell you why. Since I got into the U.S., I was drawn to a talk show that started right in front of me, and I thought, wow, what an amazing woman. And I wanted so much to watch that talk show, and I watched it every day. When I couldn’t watch it, I would record it just to watch it. And that talk show was the Oprah Winfrey show. And so that show sort of gave me a fantastic foundation. I saw what she did. I saw how she did it. I learned from her. I saw her discipline. I saw the tenacity at which she went for whatever it was that she wanted to do. I was drawn to it. Let me tell you something. In life, you just know when you feel something. If you go towards that feeling, it’s probably leading you somewhere positive. I’ve never watched someone throwing javelin during sports and thought to myself, hmm, I can do that, or I’d like to do that. Or I’ve never seen anybody in space and go, ah, these people go into space through NASA, and there was something that just triggered inside of me to say, I’d like to visit space. Never. But there are people who would watch that NASA woman or a man and go, huh, I want to do that. I think I can do that. That’s probably getting you close to your purpose.
So, Oprah was the foundation for you?
Yes, she was. And so I learned while I was in my 20s, watching that show, trying so hard, because I found someone that I thought, that woman is like me. That woman is someone I would like to be like.She wasn’t an actor, so that’s not what it was. It was yhe way she spoke, the way she narrated, the way she hosted the talk show just made me feel, hummnn, I like that. I love her discipline. And I started following it, and I started watching. Not for anything, but it triggered something within me. So that’s where that all started from. So even me joining the choir afterwards and all of that, there was discipline in everything that I did. And that had been my principle since I was in my 20s. And that’s what happened. So, coming to Nigeria was not, oh, yeah, so I’m going to do this, and this is what I’m going to do, and this is how I’m going to do it. No, no. I started in the U.S. I got married, had my first daughter at the age of 26, had my son two years later. I started building a family, did the normal mommy’s working, daddy’s working, come home, get them ready.
And coming to Nigeria, I remember then my husband, now ex-husband, he didn’t want me to come, and that’s because, you know, we had a family. We had two children. What am I going to do with these children if you leave? And I thought, let me at least go try. And one day, Pastor Gandhi called us and said, I think she should go give it a shot and see. I had no plans. I just knew that one of the prayers that I kept praying was, Father, if I go and I fall and things don’t go right, as long as I’m still in your hands, as long as I fall and my fall is in your hands, I’ll be alright and I can always go back. So let’s go give this thing a shot. I am risk taker. I can do some risky stuff like that, because if you don’t take the risk, you just never know. And so I did. I took the plunge and, thank goodness, it turned out well. Because it could have been a disaster, but God did it.
If you put a figure to it, it’s been how many years since you took that decision?
That must’ve been in 2009. That’s like 14 years, right? That’s been a while.
So, if you look back, would you say it’s been worth it every bit of the way, looking at the huge sacrifice you had to make?
That’s the word, sacrifice. And so when you make a sacrifice, it’s a 50-50 chance. You’re putting everything in God’s hands. But I thank God. I don’t look back a lot of times to find regrets. I always think when you do something and maybe it doesn’t work out, well, that’s just the way of the universe telling you that’s not the way. So I figured if it didn’t work, then Nigeria is not my way.Then I go back. I have friends that we came together or that I met here. Some of them have moved back. Some are still here. So, I don’t regret anything. But one thing I will say, I bless the name of the Lord that it has turned out the way it did. I mean, I always say this at every interview for people who care to know, the way that I know that I haven’t done too badly for myself was when my kids looked at me, especially my daughter, and she said to me, you know, Mommy, I’m glad you made the decision to come to Nigeria because you showed me an example of a woman who went for what exactly she wanted. It was tough, it was really rough.
There were so many nights that I would be in my room crying and thinking, what in the world are you doing? Like, you had a life. And then you know, yes, Nigeria can be so hectic. And I would ask myself, why did I leave certainty for something that I’m not even sure of? But here we are today. When my daughter made that statement to me, I knew right then and there that, okay, you did good, Shaffy. You did good.
How old is she?
My daughter is 28 now. And my son is 26.Yes. I’m free. Hallelujah, I’m free (laughs).
So how close is Mom to this big girl and big boy? How often do you see your kids?
So we see twice a year because they’re both working as well. They’re adults. They’re building their own lives. They’re building their own identity. And I’ve always been that parent that when you need me, you call me. If I want to hear from you guys, I will call you. But my call is, how’s it going? Have you made that decision? Oh, it didn’t work out? Well, okay, you got to make another one. So I’ve always been that parent. And I’ve always been the kind of parent that, for me, I let my children in on everything. And you can put that in capital letters. Everything. I’m broke, I’m sad, I don’t feel right, I don’t like what I’m doing, I did something wrong, I made a boo-boo, everything! Like, yes, I let them see it. See, there’s no other place you’re going to learn from an adult who can be totally honest with you. I let my kids in on everything. So, yeah, they’re grown now, and I thank God for it. They have their lives. We see twice a year. But for the most part, thank goodness for technology. It’s not a matter of we see twice a year, we see probably every night almost. Every two nights or so, we’ll video chat. We’ll be talking. I’ll be going around the house. It’s almost like they’re there. They just left this December. They come every December because they love Nigeria and I like them being around.
My son is into marketing, and my daughter is sort of in the industry too. She has a hair salon and a makeup place in the U.S. She has a studio in the U.S., and she does a lot of high-end jobs. And my son is also into marketing. He’s worked for Sony, RCA. Right now he’s with TV One. But I like them coming here, and the reason is because they see what I don’t see.They come here and see me at work and go, ‘you need to position yourself better with this thing that you’re doing. These people want you to do this? You need to ask for this, ask for that. I mean, of course, a lot of times I’ll tell them, this is Nigeria. There are some things I can’t push.
