By Awa DK Conteh
One of the iconic names in The Gambian movie industry, Fatoumatta Bah, whose role in movies has earned her the sobriquet ‘Ma Nyima” or Fatou Gomez’ speaks about her personal life and career.
Fatoumatta Bah, also known as Fatima’s Entertainment, is a role model to many people. She said she is passionate about acting; thus it makes her happy. She is not a lamp that only lights the way for others, but for herself, too, as she already has among her daughters that is acting and even won The Best Actress Award.
In an exclusive interview with Gambia Daily, Miss Bah narrated that she started her career with acting since she was in primary school precisely at the age of 9.
“We had a teacher who taught us everything about drama. He taught us singing, dancing and acting. I was a fast learner so for most of the stage performances, they will just cast me to go on stage to act, do modeling and other related things,’’ she explained.
The actress said this continued until secondary school in Brikama, where she featured in a drama, dancing and beauty pageant and became Miss Costa’s first runner-up.
“There was no going back from thereon. I chose it as a career because it became a passion, and I think it is because I am very good at it as well. After all, whatever role or character given to me by a director, I will not just only fit in but execute and interpret correctly as it is expected,’’ she said.
Miss Bah pointed that she became a presenter through acting because people watch her on TV and from there they built interest and confidence in her and would give her their products for advertisement. She said she started it with Kombo Real Estate.
She noted that she has been producing for the past five years and has produced a few movies with her colleagues. Her first production was done in collaboration with a producer called Victor Richard, based in the UK. She explained that Victor’s first visit to the country was to do a one-man show play at Ebunjan Theatre, but before his show, they met him while they were on set for a movie she was a co-producer of. “It is called The Pedro: Rohey B Camara, Yankuba Jarret and I joined together to produce that movie,’’ she added.
Fatima said Mansata Marenah is her role model because she always encourages the young ones and she enjoys working with her. She added that her ex-husband used to be very supportive of her career.
“My career does not stop me from my duty as a wife. My daughters are now 23 and 21 and I have two grandchildren. The eldest of my child is in the US pursuing a career in medicine but she is also an actress, and she won Best Actress and singer awards,’’ she said.
Miss Bah concluded that her career benefitted her in the sense that she has driven so many people into it and also became a partner with Victor Richard and meeting international artistes and producers.
