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Kingsley Yamoah speaks about grieving his younger sister while filming ‘The Billionaire’s Wife’
● Kingsley Yamoah
On the day of his audition for his role in the new Ghanaian Showmax Original ‘The Billionaire’s Wife’, Kingsley Yamoah received the tragic news of his younger sister’s passing in an accident.
Kingsley plays the no-nonsense billionaire Bill Gyimah, who is described as a “brute, firm and stern man who’s gone through the mill to become rich.”
Currently streaming exclusively on Showmax, with new episodes released every Thursday, ‘The Billionaire’s Wife’ tells the story of Adepa, a 19-year-old from the slums of Ashaiman who marries an old billionaire with the aim of turning her fortunes around, only to find out that being a billionaire’s wife is the toughest thing she’s ever done.
In this interview granted Showmax, Mr. Yamoah speaks about his character in the series, what attracted him to the role, and how he managed to overcome his grief.
How did this role come about?
I got a message from the show’s line producer, Dzifa Abla, just a few days before New Year’s Eve. I’ve always wanted to work with Ad-Visors so I showed up for the meeting. After a 7-hour process of auditions and read throughs, I finally signed the contract.
The year had started right, and filming was set to commence in four days. On my way back home, I got a call from my younger brother that the last of our siblings had been involved an accident and died on the spot.
I was broken, and wondered if I could do the job. While pondering over the possibility of going through with the shoot and grieving, I received a heartfelt condolences message from production. That’s when I broke down and wept. After that I made the decision to carry on with the project.
What was it about this story, and your character Bill that made you want to be part of the project?
When I received information about the character, I got hooked. It said: “Bill is brute, firm and stern; he’s gone through the mill to become rich.” And I told myself, this is the character I can play with great joy.
He has money, connections, influence and the corridors of power are his playground. He’s in this chaotic and unpredictable world of the rich and powerful, with all the possible scandals that the character is surrounded by, and yet he breezes through. It was mouthwatering. I was in a hurry to kill the role and I wouldn’t let this slip through my hands.
How does it feel to play a man like Bill – a billionaire who controls everything and gets the world to bend to his will?
I lived through the six weeks of filming on cloud nine. There were times I had to pinch myself and say, “Dude, it’s a script. Wake up.” The costumes, homes and cars – everything was made to look great and I had no other choice than to live in the moment.
Bill is a 55-year-old billionaire who’s just married a 19-year-old girl (Adepa). Did you ever find yourself wrestling with who he is?
When I met Andriana, who plays Adepa, I looked at her stature and age and thought of what I had to do to her during the shoot, and I cringed. Before our first scene, I had to sit with her to tell her about myself, and that my first born is six years older than her – just to let her know that I had no bad intentions. I was going to leave no stones unturned in doing what I had to do for the role; that was it.
Take us through your preparation process and how you got into character for this role.
I shut the outside world out for the six weeks we filmed the project. I had just lost my sister, and sympathies from the outside world weren’t going to help. I spent a lot of time with the acting coach Mawuli Akpabi.
I singled out each character I had to deal with and how my countenance with them was going to be like, and also how I’d carry myself when two or three of them were with me at the same time. I spent a lot of time alone at the rooftop of the hotel we were staying in, just to get to feel like Bill. I was really alone.
Everyone around me was there for a piece of the pie. I would pick a character and brood over all their schemes and work myself up over their schemes. There was a lot of work on the mindset.
What has been your highlight of working on this project?
Actually, it’s the aftermath. Everywhere I go on social media, The Billionaire’s Wife is in my face. The number of comments I get on people’s impression of the job and the questions that keep coming about upcoming episodes makes me feel good and very grateful.
Looking at your acting career in the Ghanaian film/TV industry, what would you say has been your favourite role to play to date?
This is a tough one. All in all, it’s been the “ brute, firm, stern” roles. I’ve played some really comic roles as well, and I’m sure that will surprise many when they see me playing Bill in The Billionaire’s Wife.
This is the third Showmax Original title in Ghana, how does it feel being part of the project?
I called the top hierarchy of Ad-Visors and told them I was really grateful that they “put my face on the map.” That really is how I feel. The experience of being a part of the third Showmax Original title in Ghana, for me, has been out of this world.
I left the set with fresh weapons in my acting arsenal. I’m still trying to take in everything that is happening around me in connection to being a part of this project. I am still floating, imagining the endless opportunities this offers.
By Spectator Reporter
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
Entertainment
Maxi Sway teams up with Kweku Darlington on ‘Efie Bayie’
One of Ghana’s fastest-growing musicians, Maxi Sway known in private life as Alex Bonsu, has teamed up with music sensation, Kweku Darlington on ‘Efie Bayie’.
The song is off his new External Play (EP) dubbed, ‘Love and Life’ which is made up of five songs.
The EP written and performed by Maxi Sway, drew inspiration from real life situations.
According to Maxi Sway, ‘Efie Bayie’ was inspired by something unfortunate which happened in the life of his producer Ssnowbeatz.
He revealed that “some years back as it was almost close to the B.E.C.E examinations, Ssnowbeatz fell sick and had to write the exams at the hospital with a few Security Personnel around.”
“Ssnowbeatz told me it was a very difficult time because he was out of school for a while and had no time to even revise or prepare for the exams. He failed the papers because of his health and even didn’t go for the results,” he said.
According to him, after hearing the story of Ssnowbeatz, “It got me thinking and it inspired the song Efie Beyie.”
The video was directed and shot by Mista Morgan.
The songs on the EP include, Meganja, Efie Bayie, Wayo Love, Come Closer and Seke.
The songs making waves were produced by Klassic Beatz and Ssnowbeatz.
