Uzor Arukwe is having the kind of year that makes people assume he just arrived. His turn as Odogwu in ‘Love in Every Word’ didn’t just get attention; it blew up, captivating audiences so intensely that a sequel became unavoidable. Now, anticipation is building again for ‘Colours of Fire’, yet to be released, while his latest project, ‘Behind the Scenes’, keeps his momentum firmly in motion. But sit with him for five minutes and you realise he is not breathless from newfound fame; he is bewildered by it. But most importantly, he is grateful that the spotlight has been turned on; everyone can see the work he has been doing for decades.
“When I talk to God, I just say, ‘Father Lord, I’m here again,'” he says, almost amused. “I’m shocked. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m here for it.” It is a disarming thing to hear from one of the most visible actors in Nollywood at the moment. But that is part of what makes Arukwe interesting: he has the résumé of a veteran, the rising profile of a breakout star, and the worldview of someone who still feels like he’s watching everything from the sidelines.
He turned 42 this year, a detail most people don’t believe. Not because he hides it, but because audiences tend to assume visibility equals youth. Arukwe laughs at that, not out of vanity, but out of irony. “Someone asked me what voodoo I used to be here ‘overnight’,” he states. “I said, ‘Overnight? I’ve done stage, soap opera, TV drama, film, Iroko… everything. There’s no overnight anywhere.'”
Every industry loves a “sudden” star, but Arukwe’s story removes the romance from that narrative. His career is a compilation of phases that didn’t go viral, characters that didn’t trend on TikTok, and sets that didn’t have media attention waiting outside. But he kept going with craftsman-like respect for the work. “If Al Pacino can say he’s still learning, who am I? As actors, we learn human behaviour every day. The goal is just to be honest and convincing.”
When asked whether this year feels like “the year that answered”, leaning on the quote “There are years that ask questions and years that answer”, Arukwe shifts focus. “It’s not the year the seed germinates that matters,” he says. “It’s everything that watered it.”
Fame hasn’t given him a choice about visibility. At his recent UK premiere, the crowd turned unruly. Someone reportedly fainted. Fans pushed. Security had to create breathing room. “For lack of a better word, it was too much,” he admits. “But it’s a blessing. When Aboki is calling you ‘Odogwu’, when children are calling you ‘Odogwu’, you just smile.”
Arukwe has a strategy for navigating attention, and it’s the most un-Nollywood answer possible. “I stay empty,” he says. It’s advice he picked up from Kalu Ikeagwu, an actor’s philosophy more than a life hack. “Not half full, not half empty,” he explains. “Empty. So that your canvas is clean, and anybody can paint on you.”
It sounds abstract, but the meaning is simple: stay teachable. Don’t inhale your own hype. Don’t assume you’ve arrived. For an industry that often pushes actors into self-branding and self-mythology, Arukwe’s approach is almost rebellious.
If you strip away the noise, Arukwe is exactly where he wants to be, not at the top, but in motion. Evolving. Learning. Breaking into a new range. Building a reputation that isn’t tied to genre or archetype. “I feel like it’s going to get better and better,” he says. “I’ve been praying for this. I’m embracing myself.”
Nothing about his current success feels inflated. It feels earned, measured, and ongoing. Nollywood might think it just discovered Uzor Arukwe, but he has been doing the work long before the spotlight arrived. Now the world is finally paying attention.
