Rita Dominic is known for never delivering a poor performance. One of the best we’ve seen was in La Femme Anjola. The movie, released in 2021, tells the story of Dejare (Nonso Bassey), a stockbroker in the day and a saxophonist at night. Dejare becomes entangled in a life-threatening game after meeting and falling in love with Anjola (Rita Dominic), the wife of a wealthy gangster.
In the movie, Rita Dominic displayed a top-notch dedication to her craft. She credits her gruelling preparation for it.
“I like a character that scares me, and she did that when I read the script,” she said.
“I connected with it on a very deep level. It was like I was lending my body to this Anjola woman to use as a vessel to tell the world her story. It was intense.
“I had to be in that space for the 26 days we shot in Nigeria, the remaining parts in South Africa, six months after we finished here. You can’t really let go of the character completely and can’t get back to being you.”
There has been a lot of talk about the controversial yet often effective acting process, which is simply called The Method. This is so because of the rising awareness in the industry and several reports of practitioners’ inappropriate on-set behaviour making the news.
Method acting involves living or behaving like the written characters, even off-screen, to better understand their mindset and to deliver an impressive performance. But the actors often end up harming themselves or causing trouble during production. The former happened to Rita Dominic while playing Anjola.
“It was a sort of limbo. It’s a confusing state,” she said.
“The week we shot the basement scenes, the club scenes, it was very dark for me. I wasn’t sleeping well. At that point, Anjola had really taken over my whole being.”
You’ll be right to call it an occupational hazard. And like any hot potato, Rita Dominic has a way of dealing with the situation.
“I’ve been doing this for 23 years, so I found ways to get out of this sort of role,” she said.
“I go away; I go off social media and everything. It’s either I go to the beach or a resort and spend some days; watching films. I basically do the things that Rita loves to do.”
And one of those things is reading her biography!
How old is Rita Dominic?
Rita Dominic’s age is 47. She hadn’t acted in any movie with a white shark terrorizing the inhabitants, but Jaws starring Roy Scheider and Lorraine Gary, was at the top of the Box Office on July 12th 1975, when she was born.
A baby that was born on that day was most likely conceived around October 19th 1974. We won’t go into details, but let’s just say the song, I Honestly Love You by Olivia Newton-John was in the air on that fateful day!
Her full is Rita Uchenna Nkem Dominic Nwaturuocha. Let’s thank God the princess shortened it to Rita Dominic for our pronunciation pleasure! Did you just call her princess? Yes, Rita Dominic is a princess. She’s part of the revered Nwaturuocha Royal Family in Aboh Mbaise, Imo State.
Rita Dominic’s parents, both late, were medical practitioners. Her father was a well-known doctor, while her mother was a nurse. She’s the youngest of four children.
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Rita Dominic: Education
Rita Dominic’s education was formal (schools involved), informal (diversity in methods and content) and non-formal (learning from different environments). You can call it well-rounded as it traversed three local government areas, three cities, and three states.
She attended YMCA Nursery School and Constitution Crescent Primary School. Both schools are in Aba, Abia State. She then travelled 45.2km to Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, to attend Federal Government College.
She then headed for Rivers State, where she was a University of Port Harcourt student. There, she graduated with a BA degree in Theatre Arts. That was in 1999.
Rita Dominic’s Career
She started off as a child actress. Rita Dominic appeared in school plays and television shows in Imo State. She became an instant hit when she starred in the 1998 movie, A Time to Kill. Since then, she has acted in several notable Nollywood films.
She’s undisputedly one of Africa’s biggest movie stars. CNN once described her as a “silver screen icon” and someone “embodying a range of colourful characters”. But there was a time the colour was fading in her career.
“At some point in my career, I wanted to develop and do different things. The people we used to work with a lot then didn’t understand that. More like they couldn’t be bothered. So, I wasn’t getting work. I was red-listed silently,” she said.
“Back then, there was a major red listing [of some actors]. Some of them got a lot of flak for it. However, mine was silent, and I knew. That was actually one of the things that made me start producing movies. I always knew that I would like to go behind the camera and produce my own film.
“When it was time to form a production company that I co-own, it was a no-brainer because I had always wanted to do it. I went on to form The Audrey Silva Company with my business partner, and we then produced ‘The Meeting’.”
The Meeting was released in 2012. It featured Kate Henshaw, Femi Jacobs, Linda Ejiofor, Jide Kosoko, Chinedu Ikedezie and, of course, Rita Dominic. It told a familiar story in Nigeria: love, corruption, and tribalism.
The movie received six nominations at the 9th Africa Movie Academy Awards and 11 nominations at the 2013 Nollywood Movies Awards. The TASC also produced Surulere in 2015, The Guardian in 2017 and a TV series titled Sun Country Bank.
Rita Dominic’s Filmography
Since her first movie, A Time to Kill, and her first major role, Children of Terror, Rita Dominic has starred in over 100 Nollywood productions. Here’s a list of some of them…
Prisoner of Love
My Guy
Face of a Liar
Aba Riot
Wheel of Change
Guys on the Line
Kill the Bride
Last Game
Ultimate Crisis
Joshua
Face of Africa
Tricks of Women
’76
Desperate Billionaire
The Begotten
Suicide Lovers
Queen of My Heart
Bless Me
Orange Groove
C.I.D
2 Face
Only Love
Never Too Far
More Than Gold
Love Story
Unforgettable
To Love a Thief
Throwing Stones
The Intruder
Street Life
Working Class Lady
Accidental Discharge
Back To America
Singles & Married
Love Temple
Lost Paradise
Blood Diamonds
Queen of My Heart
Million Dollar Sisters
Married For Money
Girls Cot
Yahoo Millionaire
Yankee Girls
True Lies
Run Away Prince
The Therapist
The Women
Rita Dominic’s Awards
When she started, she was just another actress in Nollywood. Now, Rita Dominic is the most nominated actress in the histories of both the AMAAs and the AMVCAs – the industry’s two biggest awards. Here’s a roll call of her nominations and awards…
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Nominations
2009 – Best of Nollywood Awards, Best Actress in a leading role
2010 – Best of Nollywood Awards, Best Actress in a leading role
2012 – Nigerian Entertainment Awards, Best Actress in a role
2013 – Ghana movie Awards, Best Actress in Africa; Golden Icon Academy Movie Awards, Best Actress in a lead role; 9th Africa Movie Awards, Best Actress in a leading role
2014 – Nigerian Entertainment Awards, Best Actress in a supporting role; Eloy Awards, Movie Actress of the Year
2015 – Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, Best Actress in a drama and television series; Nigerian Entertainment Awards, Best Actress of the Year
2016 – Nigerian Entertainment Awards, Best supporting actress
2017 – Africa Movie Academy Awards, Best Actress in a leading role; Nigerian Entertainment Awards, Best Actress in a film
Awards
2004 – City People Awards, Outstanding Actress
2012 – Kalasha Film Festival and TV Awards Kenya, Best Actress in Africa; 8th Africa Movie Academy Awards, Best Actress in a leading movie
2013 – Best of Nollywood Awards, Best English Actress in a supporting role; Nollywood Movies Awards, Best Actress in a lead role; Nigerian Entertainment Awards, Best Actress in a lead role; Africa International Film Festival, Special Jury Mention Award; Eloy Awards, Female Producer of the year
2014 – Nollywood week Paris film festival, Best film; Best of Nollywood Awards, Best supporting actress; Golden Icon Academy Movie Awards, Best Actress in a lead role; Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, New Era Award
2015 – Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, Best Actress in a comedy and Best movie Comedy (The Meeting)
2017 – Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, Best Actress in a leading role
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Rita Dominic’s Wedding
The news her fans and well-wishers have been waiting to hear for many years finally broke: Rita Dominic is getting married!
On April 5th 2022, she announced her engagement to Fidelis Anosike, the publisher of the Daily Times. Before the announcement, Rita Dominic had always kept her love life private. This time, she felt it was a thing of joy and had the urge to share the news with her fans.
“That’s the thing… it just happened,” she said.
“Oh, my goodness! Anyway… It just happened, a spur of the moment, happiness. Once in a while, you want to share certain things with people, and I felt like my lover had been there for me for decades.”
She added that it was “perfect” when people knew “we are together”. But don’t expect to hear any other information about what happens in her marriage.
“A relationship that’s private but not secret. People know we are together but don’t know anything about us,” she said.
“There’s a difference between privacy and secrecy. And to me, that’s perfect.”
The perfect day eventually came. On April 19th 2022, the couple had their traditional wedding in Imo State. It was a day of glitz, glamour, and 100 per cent top-of-range fashion in her hometown. It was as if the invitation card had “Attendees must dress to kill” below the RSVP. The excited bride was the cynosure as she dazzled in her traditional attire.
Not to be outdone, her colleagues turned up looking gorgeous too. Ini Edo, Chidi Mokeme, Uche Jombo, Chioma Akpotha, Swanky Jerry, Tubo Bereni, Lala Akindoju, Beverly Osu, Mercy Eke, Uti Nwachuwkwu, Joke Silva, Lydia Forson, Onyii Alex, Ebube Nwagbo, Shan George, Nse Ikpe Etim, Lilian Afegbai, Vivien Chidera Okafor, etc., gave “dressed to kill” a whole new meaning.
In May, the rumour mill played a whole new song. News broke that their union was in crisis over an alleged infidelity involving Anosike. Mum was the word from Rita Dominic. Mildred Okwo, her colleague and friend, however, denied the allegations.
Then added: “If they file a lawsuit against you now for defamation for spreading lies about people, you will call them wicked.” Apt.
Attention soon shifted to the second leg of the ceremony: the white wedding. On November 26th 2022, Rita Dominic and Fidelis Anosike walked down the aisle at a manor in North Yorkshire, England. In attendance were Kate Henshaw, Chioma Akpotha, Toke Makinwa, Michelle Dede, and some other celebrities.
Rita weds Fidelis wouldn’t have been on the IV had she bowed to societal pressure and married the man, not of her dream.
“I will marry the man of my dreams and not the man society dreams for me,” she said.
“Society feels that there is something wrong with you if you’re a certain age and you’re not married. What if it’s the society that something is wrong with for thinking that way, for forcing someone to do what they don’t want to do or forcing them to do what they want to do but in their (society’s) own time?”
And the force was real.
“I almost married someone,” she said.
“We were there. We were at that point. It didn’t work out and I’m happy it didn’t work out because I saw the signs. You know how you see the signs and you just ignore them, hoping the person will change?
“Look, a grown man and a grown woman cannot change. They can find a way to live with each other and respect each other’s feelings—but to change a grown person is difficult.”
Rita Dominic’s Wedding Pictures
Here are some pictures taken at both events.
Rita Dominic’s Husband
Fidelis Anosike is Rita Dominic’s husband. He was born in 1968 in Umueri, Anambra State. How old is Rita Dominic’s husband? Did you ask because you want to know the age difference between the bride and groom? Or for something sinister yet unprintable? Well, the entrepreneur is 55.
He’s the CEO of Folio Media Organisation which owns the Daily Times Newspaper. Fidelis Anosike graduated from the University of Benin where he got a bachelor of arts degree in Creative and Applied Fine Arts. He’s an alumnus of Harvard Business School.
Before he tied the knot with Rita Dominic, Fidelis Anosike had been married twice and divorced twice. But don’t call him twice as (not) nice. The third time lucky is way cooler.
Rita Dominic and her daughter
Rita Dominic does not have a daughter or son.
“No, I don’t,” she confirmed.
“But I’d love to. I love children so much. And I’m working on it, hopefully.”
The result of the ‘work’ will be out soon.
Rita Dominic’s Net worth
As one of Nigeria’s highest-paid actresses, a brand ambassador for several companies, and the CEO of her own production company, Rita Dominic has earned a lot of money. Her estimated net worth is $5 million.
However, she’s not a fan of (inter)net worth.
“So social media has become the yardstick to measure wealth? People think because you don’t post designer labels, holidays, and how much you have on your page means you’re not balling,” she said.
“Poverty mentality much? Happiness or balling, in your words, means different things to different people. This life isn’t that serious. Be happy you are alive and healthy, first and foremost!”
Rita Dominic’s Cars
Her garage has several luxury cars, including Mercedes-Benz ML 350 4Matic, Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon, and Rolls-Royce Phantom.
Rita Dominic’s House
She was reported to own an apartment in one of the high-brow areas in Lagos.
Rita Dominic’s Social Media Handles
You can stay in touch with Rita Dominic through her handles.
Instagram: @ritadominic
Twitter: @ritaUdominic
Facebook: @RitaDominicOfficial
LinkedIn: Rita Dominic
FAQs on Rita Dominic Biography
Who is the husband of Rita Dominic?
He’s the one and only Fidelis Anosike.
How old was Rita Dominic when she got married?
She was 46.
Was Fidelis Anosike ever married?
Yes. Twice divorced.
When did Rita Dominic marry?
She got married on April 19th 2022.
How many times has Rita Dominic been married?
She was always a bridesmaid but never a bride until Fidelis Anosike proved his fidelity.
Who made Rita Dominic’s wedding dress?
Her stylist, S.B. You Me, sought the help of the world-renowned bridal clothier Michael Cinco.
Conclusion
If it were football, you could say Rita Dominic has won the treble: the adoration of movie lovers (the FA Cup), the acclaim of critics (the Premier League), and the admiration of her colleagues (the UEFA Champions League).
She is the most nominated actress in the history of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) and the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA). In close to three decades, Rita Dominic has built a glowing reputation. What remains now is the FIFA World Cup. Yes, that’s the Oscar!
