Nollywood actress and filmmaker, Ruth Kadiri has opened up about how her journey into acting and screenwriting began, revealing that her first major step in the industry started with a visit to the National Theatre.

In a recent podcast with Jay On Air TV, Kadiri recalled how her passion for the arts led her to discover screenwriting.

“Growing up in the slum and getting out of it wasn’t really easy, and I remember going to the National Theatre.

“I went there, I wanted to act. I got there, and there were like 1000 people or more. I just look everywhere, I said, ‘there’s no way I’m getting this role.

The crowd is so much, there are a lot of people that are intimidating you, and then I saw a notice that says screenwriting and stuff, I think maybe it was God. I just went into the office,” she said.

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Kadiri explained that what followed was a stroke of luck that changed her life forever. “I got there, I saw the man, he had three students, I think they were waiting for the fourth one that one wasn’t coming, I said ‘sir, please me I want to write’ he’s like ‘you have to pay.’

I said, ‘I don’t have transport to even go home.’ He said, ‘Okay, you can come.’ So it was free. He added me to his class for free, and he taught me the basics.”

That opportunity, she revealed, became the foundation of her career. “Doing that basic literally got me to where I am today because when I wrote my first script, that movie became a hit. I wrote that script, and the producer obviously did not believe in me. I think he sent it out.

He sent it to Tonto Dike and Uche Jombo and a couple of them, and I think Tonto kept telling him, ‘Oh, this script, I really like it, I really like it.’ He didn’t even want to pay me.

I didn’t care, I was like ‘just give me a small role’ so he came back and said ‘okay, let’s shoot it. I was just happy that they were going to shoot my film, my script. That one was a hit, and the next one. That’s how it just started,” she said.