Promoter and philanthropist Sonia Patterson navigates Nollywood
Published:Wednesday | March 8, 2023 | 12:13 AMStephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer
Organising events and community service are two areas for which Portland-born entrepreneur Sonia Patterson is known. She is the director of the Mini Miss Portland Competition, promoter of the Portland Curry Festival and the once-held Portland Jamaica Gospel Festival.
Though residing in Florida for many years, she has been very involved in community service in the parish and, through her Sonia Patterson Cares Foundation, has carried out several outreach activities in Jamaica to as far as Nigeria, where she has made a breakthrough as a Nollywood actress.
“Acting is something that was always interesting to me, and I do it in my leisure time and have loved it. The industry is teeming with undiscovered opportunity and I’ve been lucky to find them,” Patterson told The Gleaner.
“I met renowned Nigerian actor, movie producer and scriptwriter Emeka Amakaze, and since then he has introduced me to others in the Nollywood space and we have been working together,” she continued.
Patterson has been acknowledged for her philanthropy a few times, including the Ontario, Canada-based International Women Achievers Awards and the 39th annual International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA) in 2021, where she was nominated for the Marcus Garvey Humanitarian Award. Others nominated in the category were Bounty Killer, Sharon Wiles and Buju Banton, who was the recipient of the award. She is working steadfastly towards recognition in the film and television industry as a Nollywood actress but has to navigate the stage from a distance, she said.
“Three months ago I was in Nigeria, so I was able to do more but because I’m here, most of the roles that I receive, I’ve been doing them from far away…I record the scenes but the roles are of me speaking on, or using, a telephone,” Patterson shared, revealing that her 16-year-old daughter Negesti Hirsch is her personal director and videographer.
“It’s hard. Sometimes we will shoot the scene, send it to the director and he sends it back to me and says to do it over – all four or five times. I suppose it’s helping my daughter to improve on her skills and she is such a great talent. I couldn’t do it without her.”
The first productions she acted in was titled Barrister Ezeigbo with Amakaze. The second is an ongoing online Nollywood series, Cheater’s Paradise: Web of Deceit, and two weeks ago, the first episode of season one of The Way Home To Paradise, a spin-off of Cheater’s Paradise was launched on her Sonia Patterson Cares TV channel on YouTube. Episode two will be released this weekend.
She is looking forward to travel to Africa later this year, where she will carry out her charity initiatives in Ghana before she heads to Nigeria to do similar community service and to connect with her Nollywood peers.