From the streets to a movie star – Adwoa Smart details how Maame Dokono changed her life

Multiple award-winning actress, Adwoa Smart has praised her Senior colleague and movie veteran, Grace Omaboe for giving her an opportunity in the Ghanaian movie industry, MyNewsGh.com reports.

Adwoa Smart known for her smallish physique in an exclusive interview with Hammer Nti on Kumasi-based Pure FM’s ‘Hammer Time’ entertainment program eulogized ‘Maame Dokono’ as Grace Omaboe is affectionately known in her public life and stated that she is responsible for her successful movie career.

“I can’t forget what Maame Dokono has done for me. She’s the one that brought me into this movie industry.

I was a trader but she gave me an opportunity and here I am today. She has been a mother figure and a good person to me. If I have been a good actress, then Maame Dokono deserves the praise.” She stated on Pure FM.

Grace Omaboe, a Ghanaian actress, singer, television personality, author and former politician has graced the Ghanaian movie industry for over three decades.

She has nurtured several talents in the movie industry and was recently honored by the organizers of the 3Music Awards for her achievement in the entertainment industry in Ghana.

Background

Adwoa Smart started off as a hawker of various consumables through the streets of Accra. Subsequently, she began providing mobile pedicure and manicure services at Kaneshie Market in Accra. Her dancing and acting skills were noticed by a woman called Auntie Rose (Obi Aberewa) who introduced her to Grace Omaboe of “7” fame to refine Adwoa’s talents. It was Grace Omaboe who took Adwoa under her wings and supported her during the early days of her career.

She also enrolled Adwoa at a popular dancing school to polish her dancing stage performance skills. Grace Omaboe has remained Adwoa’s mentor and adopted mother for several decades.

The two stayed together for well over 20 years during the days of Obra, and have remained close friends till this day. In Obra, the two were often cast as mother and daughter.

In Obra, Adwoa starred alongside the likes of David Dontoh (Ghanaman), Grace Omaboe (Maame Dokono), Joe Eyison (Station Master), Esi Kom, Rev Prince Yawson (Waakye), Charles Amankwaa Ampofo, Jojo Mills Robertson (Yoofi), Richard Kwame Agyeman (Odompo), Lily Ameyaw (Nana Yaa), C.K. Boateng (Kwame Ahe), Charles Adumuah, Emry Brown, Abankwa Duodu, and many others.

In latter years when Obra eventually folded, Adwoa joined “Efie Wura” (Landlord), another comic Akan drama series that featured on TV3.

Throughout her acting career, Adwoa Smart was often typecast as a child or young girl because of her diminutive stature; she suffers from genetic dwarfism, characterized by a fairly average upper torso with a short lower body and limbs.

However, these physical limitations have not diminished her personality and capabilities, both onscreen and in real life. One remarkable attribute of the actress is her bubbly and lively personality.

She is extremely mobile and quick on her feet; she always appears smartly dressed with a stylish appearance and a positive demeanor around her.

Adwoa Smart was not able to complete basic school because her classmates teased her about her height and manhandled her because she was comparatively smaller than most of them.

One of her lifetime regrets is that she succumbed to the pressure and dropped out of school. Even though she was not able to obtain much formal education, she can still express herself eloquently in English. She has delivered scripted lines in English in some of the films and drama episodes that she has been starred in.

In several interviews, she has revealed that she learnt to speak English largely through association with educated family members and friends.

She acquired the name “Adwoa Smart ” from an early age because of her agility, intelligence and quick thinking. Her physical limitations were often used as the subject of humor in films and drama performances

Source: MyNewsGh.com