Fame ruined my life – ‘By The Fireside’ actor, Kweku Ananse

When many people dream of achieving fame and fortune you imagine they’re hoping for good things to come.

But it seems once you achieve recognition for being super talented it may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

One person who appears to have experienced this is Kweku Ananse, known in real life as Isaac Herbert Ankomah the former actor seen in the popular Ghanaian TV show ‘By The Fireside’.

Kweku Ananse, has disclosed that his acting career as a child wrecked his life.

According to him, acting did a disservice to him since he lived a jumbled lifestyle because of prominence.

Speaking to Kojo Preko Dankwah on Kasapa Entertainment on Kasapa 102.5 FM, Ananse disclosed that, due to the passion and love he had for acting in the popular “By the fireside” show he never concentrated on his education.

He said at age seven (7), he was already part of Movie production team, followed them to locations by carrying the equipment for production and ignored school.

“I always run away from school to Ghana Films which was later changed to GAMA Films and now TV3 just to involve myself in the production work. I was given the narration part before the main acting started, and anytime I go home, people pointed at me saying they saw me on TV, and they started calling me Ananse from that day till now. I had interest in acting and production than going to school.”

Ananse revealed that he was trained by the host of the programme, Maame Dokono and Dr. Rokoto and had the opportunity to meet with David Dontoh and the late Kofi Meddleton-Mends.

“I met with many experienced actors like Uncle David Dontoh, Late Kofi Mends and others so I thought I had it all. I was very disrespectful and didn’t pay attention to my studies and joined hooligans.

“I never stayed at home, I was always with friends doing bad stuffs like smoking, drinking, etc.”

He stated, "I regret doing all that because it has ruined my entire life and the fame I got, I was inspired by Lord Kenya’s transformation, it helped me turn over a new leaf by giving my life to Christ.”

He told the host he was spotted by media personalities like Abeiku Santana, Afia Schwarzenegger and others but they later gave up on him.

“I stayed with Abeiku Santana for 10 years so he really knows my character and also worked with Afia Schwarzenegger but she later sacked me due to my bad habit. My advice to up and coming celebrities is that they should humble themselves, they shouldn’t feel big because of the fame they have achieved since at a young age I was overwhelmed by popularity and now look at where it landed me.”

The popular Ghanaian Television show ‘By The Fireside’ consisted of popular actors like Maame Dokono (Grace Omaboe), Wofa Yaw, Dr. Rokoto and others telling Ananse and folktale stories which were acted out by enthusiastic children with singing and dancing. The show was telecast on Saturday afternoons.

The popular Kids show also featured great talents who also played the Kweku Ananse role (From Left: Oswald Okaitei, Robert Ameyaw and Isaac Herbert Ankomah).

“By the fire side was” a children series, that chronicled the numerous misadventures of Kwaku Ananse and other characters in the animal kingdom.

The lead character in this children series was Kwaku Ananse (legendry spider character in Ghanaian folktales named Kwaku).