{"id":273939,"date":"2011-01-14T12:59:12","date_gmt":"2011-01-14T12:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/?p=47298"},"modified":"2011-01-14T12:59:12","modified_gmt":"2011-01-14T12:59:12","slug":"jt-tom-west-late","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/01\/14\/jt-tom-west-late\/","title":{"rendered":"JT Tom West (Late)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
JT Tom West<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nMovie bad boy, JT Tom West, says he\u2019s cut out for the part more than any one else. \u201c I am the best person who can play bad roles. I always make my next role different from the last one I did, even if it is the same character.
\nMost of my colleagues interpret similar roles the same way. If you give them a role as a thief five times in different movies, they play it the same way, but I don\u2019t play me in any character. The way I interpret similar roles are different. If I play a bad guy seven times in seven movies it would not be the same. When you look at it, it\u2019s either my looks, the way I talk or my mannerism is different. I always put those things into consideration. I take each role as a challenge. I am not the type that says no, please I\u2019ve been playing this role for long. If you give me the same role again, what I do is to see how best I can change it from the last job I did, that is what I think it\u2019s all about\u201d.
\nNo training
\nThe Rivers State-born actor\u2019s love for music made him to go into acting, though he had no form of training before joining the movie industry. \u201c I love music a lot, any time I am angry music soothes my spirit. So from then I developed interest in show biz. Though the schools I attended, as a teenager, were always staging dramas, I did not think I was going to make it a career. But I really liked it then. I never studied Drama or Theatre Arts, I just went in front of a camera for an audition and that was it. But before then, I was working with Zeb Ejiro on his talk show and was also modeling. I guess I was used to cameras but not acting until we started Mega Fortune. After that, the first movie I shot was Glamour Girls\u201d. That first movie fetched him N20,000 but he was not discouraged.
\nBreaking into the big league
\nJ.T said he joined the big league after his role in State of Emergence. \u201c When I shot State of Emergency, people actually looked at me and said, oh! this guy is good after all. Because in the past, I used to act bad guy. Producers knew I was good but because of the ponytail I had then, they felt I couldn\u2019t fit into certain roles. Then, I offered to cut my hair and they gave me a role in State of Emergency and that was what gave me a lot of publicity and people started seeing me as a good actor\u201d.
\nI\u2019m not a bad guy
\nJT isn\u2019t really a bad guy, or so he says. \u201cYes, I drink, smoke, that is all. Those are the vices most men have, a lot of people don\u2019t know me, and they tend to believe what they see on television because of my part. If they believe that, it means that my acting was good and that I am a good actor. They must have watched my films and said, \u2018this guy must be taking drugs or else he would not be this good\u2019. I know within myself that I don\u2019t take drugs, so I\u2019ve succeeded in passing a message as an actor because I\u2019ve never smelt cocaine before. I know abroad there are some actors that take drugs before going on set. Personally, what gets me high on set is the spirit of trying to be better. I am a perfectionist. If I scored nine-and-half percent the first time, the second time I would like to score 10 percent. The zeal to be better keeps me high on set, not drugs.\u201d
\nSuspension, not ban
\nHe would not agree that some of his colleagues were recently banned from acting, rather he said they were \u201csuspended\u201d due to indiscipline on set. \u201c I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a ban but I would call it suspension, because the reason the marketers gave was discipline on set. That some artistes come on set and tell directors what to shoot and how they want it shot; they dictate to the directors. Basically, that is wrong, an artiste can only suggest to a director and not dictate to him on how to go about his work. Every profession has its own rules. In the military, you can not talk to your superior anyhow. The marketers have a right not to work with the artistes if they want; it\u2019s their right. But saying you want to suspend them is going too hard on them. I know that at the end of the day both parties would come to an agreement. There is a small vacuum that is created by the suspension because the upcoming artistes can not replace them in certain roles\u201d.
\nWhy I\u2019m not married
\nJT says he is still single because he is scared of making a mistake in marriage. \u201cI don\u2019t want to make a mistake in things like that, that is why I believe in courtship between the couple. Over the years, I\u2019ve seen a few girls I am considering getting married to. But when I finally get married, the girl would be beautiful, intelligent, God-fearing, sensitive because I am a very sensitive person. I don\u2019t need a woman who would embarrass me in the public without even knowing that she is embarrassing me. Again, everybody likes good things, so she must be good looking and everyone that sees her would say so\u201d.
\nChallenging role
\n\u201c We do a lot of movies that are so challenging, but so far the most challenging is Liberian Girl, directed by Samson Frances. But it has not seen the light of the day. Incidentally, there is another movie that had to do with Liberian situation, it\u2019s called Laviva. I see it as the most challenging because I had to speak Liberian-English and native tongue. Every thing in the film was real\u201d.
\nWhy I braid my hair
\nJT said he braided his hair because he wanted to create an identity for himself in his career. \u201c When we started braiding hair, people thought we were crazy, but in essence I braid to make a difference in what I do. People were condemning it but they did not understand that one could be creative. I don\u2019t like to imitate others or wear what other people are wearing. I am very creative, I like to be me in what ever I do. Somebody asked me about my walking stick which I started using eleven years ago, I told him it\u2019s my identity as a Rivers man. Now, I stopped braiding and shave my hair because I wanted to shock the people that felt they knew me and did not. They never came and asked me why I am braiding my hair the way you are doing now. They sit in their houses and analyze why I am braiding my hair. I decided to shock them by shaving my hair and let them know they don\u2019t live my life for me\u201d.
\nI am not a homosexual
\nThere is so much controversy surrounding JT\u2019s life, one of them being that he is a homosexual and is high on drugs. But he seas the speculations as a huge joke and dared anybody sees him as a homosexual to bring his sister for \u2018testing\u2019 \u201cI am not a homosexual, a paper actually wrote that I am one. I told the guy that wrote the story that the only way to find out if I am a homesexual is for him to bring his sister to me. I detest it and it\u2019s disgusting to me. If I know a man that is into it I would not allow him to sit by me. But then, it is their life and we have to allow them to live it the way they want\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Movie bad boy, JT Tom West, says he\u2019s cut out for the part more than any one else. \u201c I am the best person who can play bad roles. I always make my next role different from the last one I did, even if it is the same character. Most of my colleagues interpret similar […]<\/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-273939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nJT Tom West (Late) - 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\/14\/jt-tom-west-late\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"JT Tom West (Late) - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Movie bad boy, JT Tom West, says he\u2019s cut out for the part more than any one else. \u201c I am the best person who can play bad roles. 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