I Was Paid N50k For My First Movie Role - Pete Edochie

Posted by Thandiubani on Fri 11th Aug, 2023 - tori.ng

The veteran film star said Josephine, his wife of 53 years, also encouraged him to begin his career in acting.

Veteran actor, Pete Edochie has revealed how much he was paid for his first movie role.

According to him, he was paid N50,000.

Edochie, in an interview with Chude Jideonwo, the media personality, said it inspired him to finally leave his old job where he earned N9,000 monthly.

The veteran film star said Josephine, his wife of 53 years, also encouraged him to begin his career in acting.

He said he moved to Lagos and by the end of his first year as an actor, he made N750,000.

“The moment I drove home from Oka, I told my wife my work is over,” he said.

“She hugged me, bought me a bottle of beer and said ‘Pete you have always wanted to be an actor, the time has come’ and that was it.

“I was sitting down with her in the parlor, somebody came from Lagos and gave me a check of N50,000, and at that time, my salary as a director was N9,000 a month.

“He gave me a check of N50,000 and said come to Lagos and do a film for me. I landed in Lagos and I was doing that film.

“Chiko Ejiro brought me a script, gave me N100,000 and I worked and got into a set. His brother, Zeb, brought me another script and gave me N150,000.

“So by the time that year ended, I had earned N750,000. Whereas my salary a month was N9,000.”

However, before he formally moved on from radio broadcasting, Edochie took the role of Okonkwo, the lead character in a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s best-selling novel ‘Things Fall Apart’.

With several awards and recognition, Edochie has established himself as a household name in the Nigerian movie industry.