Veteran actress Janet Ackom, who starred in Osofo Dadzie’s and the well-known TV series ‘Obra’, has shared her story of struggling to make ends meet without receiving compensation.
She claimed that because she and many others at the time were so passionate about their craft, money was not the primary concern; however, when she had to provide for her family and herself, life got intolerable.
While reflecting on the early seasons of the Obra TV series, the actress opened up on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning with Roselyn Felli.
Even though they were the stars of the era, they had to make ends meet on little to no money, which made life difficult.
As you mentioned, you were not really paid, but everyone you met assumed you were wealthy. What was it like to live up to the whole celebrity status? Roselyn Felli, the host, enquired.
“That’s what they think. We loved the work, but they didn’t pay us. It made us suffer because when you wore a dress out, you would have to wear the same dress to church,” she recounted.
Her dependence on her meagre earnings following the traumatic event led her to never dream of owning a home. Despite her lack of income, Mrs. Ackom occasionally sacrificed her marriage to pursue her acting career, a decision that her husband approved of.
But why did she not stop acting?
“I had just finished Form 4, and it was around 1973. I didn’t go to secondary school, and I didn’t learn anything. So, if I stopped acting, what am I going to do? And I loved acting,” she said.
Mrs. Ackom never received gifts, in contrast to Grace Omaboe, also known as Maame Dokono, who also disclosed on the show that she was given numerous properties, including lands, as gifts from people who valued her work.
Mrs Ackom has relied on commercial transport, also referred to as “trotro,” for all of her travel needs ever since she began acting.
“Obra” in Akan, meaning Life, was a Ghanaian television drama series that was very popular in Ghana in the 1980s towards the 2000s. The casts graced Ghanaians with an unlimited mixture of fun, drama, and education about life.
In 1975, Janet Ackom started her acting career. Later in the 1990s, she came out of the “Osofo Dadzie” series and joined the “Obra” team. She rose to prominence in the series due to her reputation for playing tough roles.
The show is still broadcasting on GTV today, featuring both new and some of the original cast members. But for a while now, it has been put on hold because of certain circumstances—which the actors declined to discuss.
