{"id":273850,"date":"2011-01-13T18:18:02","date_gmt":"2011-01-13T18:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/?p=47090"},"modified":"2011-01-13T18:18:02","modified_gmt":"2011-01-13T18:18:02","slug":"darlene-benson-cobham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/13\/darlene-benson-cobham\/","title":{"rendered":"Darlene Benson-Cobham"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n

\"\"<\/a>
Darlene Benson-Cobham<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nAn actress has waved aside the allegation of \u201csex-for-role\u201d in the movie \tindustry \u2013 insisting that in every other sector, the \u201cboss\u201d sleeps with the \tunderling.<\/p>\n

\u201c The casting couch exists, but it is not just in the movie industry. There \tare some banks where you can\u2019t get a job if you don\u2019t sleep with the boss. \tOr in their marketing department, if you don\u2019t sleep with some clients, you \tmight not get the kind of money your boss is expecting. There is no drug \tthat was given to producers that says they must be randy or that they must \thave a high sexual urge, it\u2019s there in basically every other sector. There \tare just some men who believe that they must get something from a woman for \tanything they give her. But it doesn\u2019t mean that every marketer or every \tindependent producer is like that\u201d, says Darlene Benson-Cobham.
\nI\u2019ve experienced it
\nBut she says you don\u2019t have to sleep with anyone to make it to the top.
\n\u201c There are people who made it to the top without having to sleep with \tanybody and there are others who slept their way to the top. You don\u2019t have \tto do anything you don\u2019t want to. Some people did it, it worked for them, \tsome do it and it doesn\u2019t work. I\u2019ve experienced one or two things like that \tbut I didn\u2019t have to do it and I\u2019m still here. I might not be in every \tmovie. Any woman who succumbs to it has herself to blame
\nAway to marry
\nDarlene\u2019s one of those in a number of supporting roles in Nigerian movies. \tBut she\u2019s been off the screen so long many thought she had quit acting. \tWell, Darlene Benson-Cobham left town for a while to face marriage demands. \t\u201c I got married and my husband works in Bonny. So some of the producers \tdecided to give me a break, one that I didn\u2019t ask for. Now only a few \tproducers know that I\u2019m back in town\u201d, she told Saturday Sun, recently.
\nBut then, at Bonny, she did a few shows. \u201cI organized most of their shows \tthere, performing also. Even before I went, I was a performer, a singer. I \tdo shows, studio jobs, jingles, back-up for some artists like Lt Shotgun, \tSonny Nneji, Sammy Okposu. I\u2019m working on my own album now.\u201d
\nWorking apart
\nWorking in Lagos, away from her man must be strenuous. \u201c Yes, the distance \tis challenging for us, but he loves my career, so he encourages me more than \tanything. He doesn\u2019t try to keep me from my work. It\u2019s true that no woman \twants to be away from her husband for that long. You\u2019ll miss him sometimes. \tHe does come to town once in a while.\u201d
\nSeasonal Disease
\nShe says she has also been a victim of the seasonal disease that happens to \tmost actresses in Nigeria.
\n\u201c I\u2019ve faced the same challenges every actor faces in Nigeria. You hope you \tcan get roles that you can interpret properly,\u201d says the UNILAG graduate of \tTheatre Arts. \u201c The seasonal thing that happens to almost every actress also \thappened to me. I started out well, appearing in quite a number of \tproductions. All of a sudden they stopped using me for reasons best known to \tthem. I don\u2019t even know why actresses have to have seasons. It seems the \tproducers and marketers have just created that situation. But I\u2019m still here \tpracticing my craft.\u201d
\nYet some other actors and actresses have been accused of being over-exposed \tbecause they appear in too many films. But she doesn\u2019t think such \tallegations are valid.
\n\u201c I think it\u2019s the same thing that is obtainable in basically every country \tthat produces movies on such a large scale as we do. The people whose faces \tappear in almost all films are just privileged because they started out \tbefore others and the few lucky ones who started recently and have made it \tto the top. It\u2019s what we find even in America that some actors\u2019 faces sell \tmovies, no matter what the movie is about. So the Idumota marketers have \tdecided that if they want to sell their films, those faces have to be on it. \tBut I think they are discovering some new faces now. Someone like Desmond \tElliot was not a known face before, but he\u2019s becoming better known now.\u201d
\nActing style
\nBenson-Cohbam believes that the one thing that has kept her consistent in \tthe industry is her acting style.
\n\u201c I believe that my acting style is different. Some producers have told me \tthat I give the most realistic reactions. I\u2019m not all into making it \tglamorous. I\u2019m more particular about the very natural responses that would \tcome if it were a real life situation. The way I see it is that you have to \tbe as genuine as you can with your expressions because at the end of the \tday, you want to offer a slice of real life. It is like you\u2019re trying to \trepresent what happens in real life in the most realistic way possible. If \tyou have any incidents in your life that resemble that scene you\u2019re about to \tact, you can draw from it. And if you can\u2019t, imagine it. It works for me all \tthe time.\u201d
\nShe has some advice for any young person going into acting.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t go into acting because it seems glamorous and because everybody is \tdoing it. You have to have a passion for it. You also have to go into it \twith the right attitude. Do what you\u2019re doing decently. And for the ladies, \tyou don\u2019t have to start off on the wrong footing by giving actresses a bad \tname. Be yourself, don\u2019t try to act like any other person. Everybody will \tknow you for your own style. They\u2019ll come for you because that\u2019s who you \tare.\u201d
\nFILMOGRAPHY<\/strong>: Brides Apart, Honeymoon Hotel, Engagement Night<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An actress has waved aside the allegation of \u201csex-for-role\u201d in the movie industry \u2013 insisting that in every other sector, the \u201cboss\u201d sleeps with the underling. \u201c The casting couch exists, but it is not just in the movie industry. There are some banks where you can\u2019t get a job if you don\u2019t sleep with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nDarlene Benson-Cobham - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/13\/darlene-benson-cobham\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Darlene Benson-Cobham - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"An actress has waved aside the allegation of \u201csex-for-role\u201d in the movie industry \u2013 insisting that in every other sector, the \u201cboss\u201d sleeps with the underling. \u201c The casting couch exists, but it is not just in the movie industry. 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