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Nollywood actress, Uche Jombo is a darling of the big screen and has been so for over a decade now. Ever since she cut her teeth into acting in 1999 with her first movie �Visa To Hell�, she has improved her craft with every production and has had a steady climb up her professional ladder. Now, aside from acting, she owns movie production outfit called Uche Jombo Studios which has been responsible for churning out great movies in recent times. On May 16, 2012 Uche got married to her beau Kenney Rodriguez at a private beach wedding on the Island of Puerto Rico. Her wedding which took many by surprise has been the talk of the town for several weeks. In this exclusive interview with Adeola Adeyemo, Uche speaks about having the wedding of her dreams, her husband, her career and more. Uche is still basking in the euphoria of her wedding. She is happy as she speaks about it, laughs at the pictures, and has a special glow when speaking about her husband. But aside from the excitement of her wedding, chatting with her reveals a bubbly and intelligent personality; someone that has had an interesting career climb and has a lot to share with the world. Hi Uche. It�s been a bit of a task getting you to sit down for this interview. You seem to have been very busy lately. What have you been up to? We are trying to clear out. We have some productions from my production company, Uche Jombo Studios so I�m basically doing more of post-production work. My Life My Damage, we are looking at starting the tour in September. And i�m working on another comedy which I was the co-executive producer with Desmond Elliott. It�s like nothing you�ve ever seen before. I�m happy to say that the special effects are coming out as expected. Tell me about some of the movies we should be expecting to see you featured in soon. Mrs Somebody, a comic look at the pressure to get married in the everyday Nigerian society by Emem Isong. Holding Hopes, Broken Silence which has Uti Nwachukwu and Tonto Dikeh. Also Ikenna, an epic is coming out soon. I also just finished a film, Misplaced Affections. I read somewhere that you�re affiliated with a Reality TV Show, Nollywood Search in the UK. What is your role in it? It�s organized by Nollywood Uncut. I got interested in their script. It�s not my show per say but whoever wins will work with us. Your movie, Damage has been out for over a year now. How has the reception been? It�s been fantastic. We are also online where people can pay to watch it on www.damagemovie.com. We are also going to upload soon on DVD. Damage is a trilogy. We are on the second one now which is My Life My Damage which is about drugs and HIV. It is more student friendly so we are thinking of doing a proper tour for Nigerian Universities outside the premiere because it is that kind of movie.Recalling the Early Years Now Uche, please take me back to the beginning of your acting career. How did you step into shoes of an actress? I know it sounds like a clich� but it was just about being at the right place at the right time. It was almost like a challenge. I was asked �Can you act?� I was like �Yes I can� and I was given a script to read even though that was not what I went there for. That is how I got my first role from Fidelis Duker in 1999. Eventually, the movie, Visa To Hell came out in 2000. How has the journey been so far? What encouragement would you give to people just starting out in their acting career? I�d like to say it�s been rosy but that is not how it was. It�s been a struggle but by God�s grace, it�s been a successful story. I always tell people starting that it�s always about self belief because in this business you are going to get lots of no�s before you get the yes�. But don�t be discouraged. Work more on your craft and self confidence.You started out acting mostly �Tom Boy� roles but have now grown to the leading �Diva� kind of roles. Tell me about your career growth. I�m one of those people who would be right if I say I started from a very humble beginning in my career. I did lots of supporting roles and behind the scenes. I think to be consistent at what you do, at a point you should work on yourself more. I�m in love with the art. It was never about money or fame with me. I can�t count how many movies I did without payment. So when you pursue whatever you do with a passion and the love you have for it, it might not be that lucrative at the beginning but at the end of the day, every other thing follows. That�s how it�s been for me. Did your �Tom Boy� status in movies then have anything to do with what you were like when growing up? I was not an easy child. I did everything teenagers do but probably more. My mother was so scared that she had to enroll me in a church drama group and quarterly they give the best drama student scholarship so three years out of my secondary school was paid for by the church. She did that because I was always either trying to play ball with boys or climbing trees. That is funny. What is your educational background like? I read Mathematics and Statistics as my first degree at University of Calabar and Computer Programming as my Post Graduate Diploma at Federal University of Technology, Minna. You have two degrees and decided to put it aside for acting? Why? Acting is a way of life. For me, acting is something you are born with. It�s either you are born with it or you�re not. I have a friend who is a graduate of Theater Arts. She cannot act to save her life so it�s really not about what you have read. It�s looking at how you can be useful to yourself and the society.Fashion & Style I watched a show once where the camera had a peek into your wardrobe and showed that you have quite a large number of shoes� Shoes was one of my guilty pleasures but now it�s equipment for my work. Why do you have this love for shoes? Because I am short. I am five feet four inches. And then, someone said to me once, �if you don�t have the height you can just buy it.� I do not own one pair of flats. Growth & Controversies A number of Nigerian actors are spreading their wings into the Hollywood scene. Do you have any plans to do something similar to that? I�ve always said I won�t go to Hollywood, Hollywood will come to us. It�s not about up and going to Hollywood to look for roles. Do you know how many actors are jobless in Hollywood? Lots of them. You cannot be more American than the American, you can only be you. What makes us peculiar is that we are African people, telling African stories to Africans. It�s about Hollywood coming to us because there is a void which we are going to fill. You are one of the few Nollywood actresses to clinch a Glo Ambassador deal. How did you get it? I got it like every other person. They did profiles for some actors and they called. At first I thought it was a joke. As a celebrity, you might have been sometimes misinterpreted or wrongly accused by the media. What is the most ridiculous thing you�ve ever read or heard about yourself? The abortion one, the one I am in court for. It was the most ridiculous thing I�ve ever heard about myself. You don�t say someone lost weight because they aborted a six-month pregnancy. That is actually not intelligent because when people are pregnant, they actually add weight. I lost weight for a movie �Holding Hope� and that�s what started the whole thing. And also the one I heard now that I did a nose job. Of all the things I could do to my body, is it my nose I would want to fix? Sometimes, you pick up a paper and the only truth you read there about yourself is your name. That was a long time ago. How long has the case been in court? We�ve been in court for over two years but it�s OK, I have the time. Is the publication still being circulated? It�s still on but I intend to close it even if it�s the last thing I do.