You Can’t Be Normal – Sharon Ooja Reveals Struggle Playing Bipolar Character

Nollywood actress Sharon Ooja has opened up about the mental and emotional pressure she experienced while playing a character living with bipolar disorder in a film.

The 35-year-old actress disclosed this during an interview with Arise TV, where she explained that taking on the role left her mentally exhausted.

Ooja said portraying the character required her to move quickly between different emotional states while remaining in character throughout the performance.

According to the actress, the experience also gave her greater empathy for people living with mental health conditions because of how emotionally demanding the role was.

She explained that she had to switch between emotions such as sadness, anger and happiness, sometimes within a short period.

Ooja also recalled instances during filming when her director had to correct her after she unintentionally returned to her usual emotional state instead of maintaining the character’s emotional tempo.

She said: “I think that because it was more mentally draining for me; when you’re a normal person playing a bipolar role, it’s a lot of work. This gave me so much empathy for people actually dealing with mental health issues because it was draining. My director would sometimes have to call me because he’s like, you’re not staying on tempo, you’re going back to normal, you can’t be normal. So, it was so draining having to be crying, laughing, angry so many emotions in one.”