Why I Don’t Kiss In Movies ––Married Actress Ashionye

Beautiful actress Ashionye Ugboh-Raccah is a woman of many parts: her first feature film, Journey to Self, has put her in the league of producers. She tells Ovwe Medeme of The Nation about her life as a wife, mother and actress, and why she doesn't kiss in Nollywood movies.

Has getting married influenced the kind of roles you take as an actress?
I love what I do as an actress, but I have my limits personally not necessarily because I am married. Out of respect for my husband, I do not accept roles where I get to kiss a male character. It is not because he puts a restriction on it, but I avoid it out of respect for him and my son who watches most of the movies I’ve been in.

So, I wouldn’t want him, at this age, to get a wrong notion or wrong interpretation of who mummy is or what mummy is doing. He is just four. As they say, first impression on children counts; so, I wouldn’t want that to happen.


It is expected that you husband, a foreigner, will be more liberal than the Nigerian man...
(Cuts in) My husband is very liberal; but as I said, I avoid kissing in movies out of respect for him. It is my personal choice; I respect him that much not to do that. Also, it is out of respect for my son. Yes, he is a child, but I do respect him as he respects me as his mother. It is a personal choice.

Again, my husband is a foreigner, like you put it, but he was born in Kano; so, he understands the tradition of the Nigerian people. He understands our cultures and our values. As a Delta girl, I respect the tradition and culture too and I have a family who watches me. As I said, it is a personal thing. I don’t want people taking it differently.

How did you meet your husband?
We met at a friend’s office. It wasn’t love at first sight. A couple of months down the road, we started dating and we got married.

Doesn’t the issue cultural differences come between you?
He was born in Kano, though he didn’t grow up there. He came visiting a lot of the time, while he was growing up. So, he understands the Nigerian tradition and he has been back in Nigeria for well over 15 years. So, he is a ‘Nigerian’.