Why actors must learn to let go of their characters — Ebisan Arayi

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By Ayo Onikoyi

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Nollywood actor Ebisan Arayi has opened up on the mental discipline required in acting, explaining how he selects roles and why actors must learn to separate themselves from the characters they portray.

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Speaking on the Conversations With Kenni podcast hosted by , Arayi said the character is the first thing he considers before accepting a role.

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“The first thing I consider is the character. The character is very important because an actor’s character is how social media shapes society or culture these days. Once I consider the character, I check if the character is strong enough and inclined with who I am or if I have to create a new personality for that character,” he said.

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Arayi added that the quality and depth of the story also influence his decision, saying he prefers projects that challenge him rather than predictable stories.

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“Is it heavy enough? Does it have depth? Or is it just the predictable type of film? I’m so grateful to God that we now have quite a number of storytellers in Nigeria that are doing a fantastic job by creating more depth in movies,” he said.

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However, he stressed that an actor’s responsibility does not end with creating a character, noting that letting go of a role is equally important.

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“It is an actor’s job to create characters and undo them because if you don’t undo your characters, your characters can undo you,” he said.

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Arayi recalled an experience after returning to Nollywood following a break he took in 2011 to pursue his education. He said he once found himself feeling unexplained resentment towards an actress because he was subconsciously associating her with a character she had previously played.

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“I had to remind myself that I was an actor and this was a new character here in front of me. I can’t hold the resentment my former character had towards her own former character towards her in the present,” he said.

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According to him, failing to detach from a role could affect an actor’s relationship with colleagues and ultimately interfere with their performances.

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“If you don’t undo a character you build for a particular movie, you’ll find out that it’ll start to undo you,” Arayi warned.

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He said he had to consciously detach himself from the previous character immediately, reminding himself that he was working on a different movie with a different set of circumstances.

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Describing the process of acting as deeply immersive, Arayi said actors sometimes have to access parts of themselves to convincingly portray fictional personalities.

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“So yes, you have to get out of characters because they can be really deep. I don’t know about other actors, but for me, characters are very deep,” he said.

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