Tanzanian Star Actress Hides In Ghana

News One has discovered that queen of Tanzanian movies, Yvonne Cheryl Lewis, popularly known in Tanzania as Mona Lisa, has been staying in Ghana for some time now.

She resides in a part of Accra called East Legon; a neighborhood where the wealthy live and the beautiful ones play. The paper has also gathered that the Tanzanian actress is living in a plush mansion that is heavily guarded by wild security dogs big enough to cause a stir and fright.

News circulating in Tanzania is that the award-winning actress turned director cum producer had actually packed all her belongings and relocated to Ghana for good. However, the actress told NEWS-ONE that she would be in Ghana for one more week. Her coming to Ghana, she indicated, was strictly for business. “We are working on a number of collaborations with a number of people in Ghana. We are talking to some production houses which we can’t put in the public domain now.

We are going to meet a few more people next week for more collaboration to work in both Tanzania and Ghana. That is basically the purpose of her traveling to the West Africa. She wants is to collaborate with actors, producers and director among others in movies,” Yvonne’s manager, Richard Nwaobi-E, explained. With a background in the arts, her penchant for movies and a flawless resume in acting, Yvonne has what it takes to make an industry flourish.

And that was exactly her contribution towards Tanzania’s movie industry. She has been in it for the past 13 years and watching her gave hope to a lot of young women in her country. She grew up watching her mum act on screen, which influenced her choice of career. Her mum, Susan Lewis is an actress and a scriptwriter.

At the age of 16, Yvonne started acting in church and school. After her secondary school education, she went to act on TV in a soap opera titled ‘Mambo Hayo’ in 1998. Subsequently, she appeared in other soaps. Her foray into movie screens was in the movie titled ‘Girlfriend’ in 2001 which gave birth to what used to be a dead movie industry in the

East African country. “’Girlfriend’ was my first movie. That was the first movie in Tanzania. Back in the days in 1969, we had films but then the film companies died. We didn’t have any film anymore until 2001 when ‘Girlfriend’ came. So I could say it was the first movie in Tanzania,” Yvonne said on Saturday in Accra.

She played the lead role as a girl who was in love with a musician. The movie got people’s attention to the power of movies. She has since featured in a number of movies including ‘Payback’, ‘Nimeokoka’, ‘Cellular’, ‘Wrong Number’, ‘Wedding Pressure’, ‘Behind The Scene’, ‘Sabrina Who is Smarter’,’ She is My Sister’ with Mercy Johnson and ‘Dilemma’.

She said she selects her roles based on her cultural orientation. Recently, she said she rejected a lesbian role because it was against Tanzanian culture. Besides, her fans would not be happy with her if she played that role. In Tanzanian, she is the kind of A-list actress who everybody will queue up for photo opportunities at any time, like it is in Ghana lately.

She is called the queen of ‘Bongo movies’ and has won several awards. Yvonne won the best actor at the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) 2010 awards in July 2010. She also won other awards including 2010 Filamu Centrale Best Actress Award and 2008 Queen of Bongo Movies.

She is one of the few Tanzanian actors who speak English fluently. Currently she hosts ‘Bongo Movies’ on EATV on Wednesday @ 9:30pm. Also, she was the Face of Heineken for 2 years, and Face of Assas Milk. Yvonne is more than an actress, director, producer and script writer as she also presents on radio. Currently she wants to take her job beyond the borders of Tanzania.

She said Tanzania’s industry was fast growing and hoped to catch up with that of Ghana and Nigeria’s very soon. She chose to come to Ghana first because her manager mostly resides in Ghana and she also wanted to collaborate in Ghana. “I love the lady Kalsume Sinare. Yes, I have been watching her since

she was young. Now she is old and I love the guy Pusher (Adjetey Anang). Ooh that guy is very very good. I love Majid Michel; he is also popular in Tanzania and Lydia Forson too. I want to work with good producers, directors and good actors. So anybody who is good I am ready to work with that person. It doesn’t mean I want to work with Kalsume alone or Pusher alone. I want to with anybody good,” she spoke passionately about her job.

The only daughter of her mum Susan Lewis, her dad is late. She has two children, a boy and girl. She grew up in a Christian family. She did diploma in Mass Communication in Kenya’s Wilnag Film & Media Institute after her secondary education in Tanzania. “I wanted to be an air hostess.

That was my dream. But after my secondary education, I took secretarial courses and I hate secretarial courses that I never did that job. I don’t know; I just don’t like sitting, doing typing and the meetings. No, I don’t like it. So my first job was acting and I still do it. I love acting. That is my life,”