Ada Ameh – The Actress Who Wanted To Become A Medical Doctor But Found Her Voice In Acting

KevinJuly 19, 2022

2 minutes read

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Before finding her voice on the big screen, Ada Ameh wanted to be a singer and later a medical doctor. Although she didn’t do any of that, she settled for a career as a comic actress who made millions of Nigerians happy for more than two decades.

“It is not just about the money I am paid, but the satisfaction I get standing in front of the camera and making people happy,” she said in an interview.

News of her death at 48 sent shockwaves across Nigeria on Monday, July 18, 2022.

Ameh reportedly died on Sunday, July 17, 2022, at a Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) hospital in Delta State.

Netng could not immediately confirm the cause of her death.

Victor Okhai, the President of the Directors Guild of Nigeria (DGN), told Netng he could not confirm Ameh’s death.

“I’m unable to confirm for now. I’ve been trying to reach the AGN (Actors Guild of Nigeria) President,” Okhai said in an SMS sent to Netng.

Before her death, Ameh had shared a video on her Instagram page having lunch with some of her friends on Sunday afternoon.

Her death is coming barely two years after she lost her only daughter, Gift Ameh, who died in October 2020.

Born May 15, 1974, to an Idoma (Benue) father by an Akwa-Ibom mother, Ameh was raised in Ajegunle, a Lagos slum community close to Nigeria’s busiest port – the Apapa port.

She dropped out of secondary school at 14 after becoming pregnant with her late daughter, whom she described as her friend.

Her first break in Nollywood came from Zeb Ejiro’s movie ‘Domitilla’ in 1996, and from then until her death, she was a regular face on the screen.

The death of her only daughter, which she said shattered her world, left her traumatic until her death.

On June 15, 2022, she shared a disturbing video on her Instagram page where she claimed she was going through mental issues but assured her followers that she would get over it.

“Everything is going to be fine. I have an issue right now, and it’s taking my life. I no go die (I won’t die); I’ll get over it. I was given a job, but I didn’t do the job because I had mental issues,” she said. “Will people understand when you say you have mental issues? They won’t. They are slamming me with a bill suing me; it’s okay.”

Until her death, she played the role of Emu, the semi-illiterate matriarch of The Johnsons‘ family, in Africa Magic’s sitcom ‘The Johnsons’ and featured prominently in other movies like 30 Days in Atlanta, Oloture, among many others.