Balancing Act: How Bless Fortune Overcomes Setbacks as an Actor and Full-time Student

By Rhoda Krah

Bless Fortune is an actor, a model, singer and an entrepreneur. She hails from the Volta region of Ghana. After majoring in journalism at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), she enrolled at the African University College of Communications (AUCC) where she is studying development communication. Bless has a long, impressive list of movie and television titles under her belt, including such hits as “Inside out” on Akwaaba Magic, “Strange love”, “Salome”, “Agatha” and her current series SEVSU (Sexual Victims Support Unit), currently running on DSTV. Following, excerpts from an interview I recently had with the star.

Rhoda Krah: What sparked your interest in acting, and how did you get started?

Bless Fortune: Acting has always been something embedded in me as a child, right from the age of six. I started acting in church, and look at me now.

RK: Have you encountered any major obstacles or setbacks as an actor who is also a full-time student? And how do you overcome them?

BF: It actually depends, ’cause I have actually missed a whole semester because I had a project I was working on. Plus, I also have to travel for the African Magic Awards in Nigeria for a movie category I was nominated for, which unfortunately I didn’t win, but yet I still came back to write exams. So, it’s all determination, I must say.

RK: Schoolwork and acting commitments can be challenging: how do you manage your time effectively?

BF: I can’t say it’s difficult, but one needs to be driven by passion and determination in whatever they do, ’cause I’m able to manage acting and schoolwork because of what drives me. And the fact that others in my shoes have done this and more and have succeeded keeps me going.

RK: How do you handle feedback and criticisms from directors or fellow actors?

BF: I love them a lot because I’m not someone who easily gets intimidated by people, and I like to learn from my mistakes. And I know they will be honest with me, ’cause I personally don’t really watch myself. So, the criticism I get from them helps me work on my mistakes, and it grooms me to learn to become a good actor.

RK: Who do you look up to in the movie industry?

BF: The people I look up to are Taraji P Henson and Viola Davis. In Ghana, Lydia Forson is the actor I look up to, because of her authenticity and how welcoming she is. And for the good advice she constantly feeds me with to also be my unique self.

RK: Can you talk about a particularly challenging role you’ve played and how you approached it? .

BF: Every role for me as an actor is challenging. It’s the next step to becoming somebody that you are not, ’cause you have to assume a personality that you are not and embody the character, its emotions and looks, and it can be very depressing. One thing my characters shape me into is, I get depressed all the time. Usually when I come back from set, I need my own space to put myself back together. Which makes me see acting to be more spiritual than physical.

RK: What has been the best movie you’ve shot so far?

BF: My best movie – yet most challenging movie I’ve shot – is the “Road to my father’s compound”, which got me the nomination at the African Magic Awards. It’s my best yet, my most challenging, because I have to play the role of a typical Ga woman who was pregnant and depressed as well, I had to learn the Ga language within three months.

RK: What are your future goals and aspirations in the field of acting?

BF: I would like to produce and direct in the future.

RK: What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue a similar path of balancing academic and a creative career?

BF: Just be your authentic self, and let your passion and the success of others who toiled the path you are on keep you going.