Actress Yvonne Orji Says God Told Her ‘Do Comedy’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Though her career paths were limited by her Nigerian family’s traditional views, actress Yvonne Orji explained how God’s hand guided her into comedy.
Growing up, Orji was restricted by her gender, being taught what it would mean to be a woman. While her brothers got to play outside, she stayed in the kitchen to help her mother cook. Orji, however, continued to dream beyond her domestic duties.
Her family allowed her to pursue one of the few options for careers they believed acceptable for women, and Orji attended George Washington University to pursue medicine. God had other plans, however, and Orji was rejected from the George Washington University Medical School during her sophomore year of college.
“I was like, ‘Ooh, I don’t know if this is it for me. I just don’t know what else I can be,’” Orji told the “Jesus Calling” podcast. “So, I entered the Miss Nigerian American pageant.”
Two weeks before the pageant, the event organizers asked Orji what talent she would showcase, something she didn’t know was part of the event. With no talent she could perform on stage and only two weeks to prepare, she turned to God for help.
“I go pray like, ‘Hey, Jesus, what’s up? Me again. I need help. They tell me this is where You come in. I need a miracle because I’ve got nothing, it’s two weeks [away].’ And I hear, ‘Do comedy,’” Orji said.
“And being as though I’m the one that came to Him for advice, I was like, could it be that God sees something in me that I don’t even yet see in myself? So, I spent the next two weeks walking around my house being insprired, like, what is it that I find funny?” she continued. “Having this duality of being both Nigerian and American. And to my surprise, I get enough material for a five minute set. I perform it, people laugh and I’m astounded.”
A few months later, a comedy competition rolled around to find the funniest college student, and Orji applied, planning to use the same five-minute set. To her shock, she won her college’s leg of the competition and got to perform in the finals at the DC improv.
After her set, two guys who had a similar upbringing to Orji told her that she reminded them of their mothers, just with a different accent. At that moment, she realized that her comedy had universal appeal.
Before she became famous, though, she committed her career to God.
She said, “Before any of [the fame] happened, I sat down with myself and with God and thought, when I make it, how do you want me to represent You while I’m here?” she shared. “It was like, OK, I know why I’m here. It’s to make You proud.”
From then on, Orji began pursuing comedy full-time, though she still had problems she needed to work through because of her upbringing.
“One thing I talk about is how God ‘tricked’ me into the life of my dreams,” she said. “I had an experience where an agent pushed me to do something that I didn’t feel I was ready for. And the anxiety that ensued because, for the first time in my life, somebody was giving me the luxury, the privilege, of potential failure. And that’s not a thing I was accustomed to.”
“My fear was rejection. My fear was the one thing I had been trying to avoid in my adult life, God [was] placing me directly in the eye of the needle to potentially receive it,” she added. “It scared me so much. But I also, in addition to perfectionism, I also had people pleasing I don’t want to disrespect [my agent’s] hard work. And so then I was like, ‘Okay.’ But immediately the sweat, the bullets, all the things. And then in my mind, I was like, how does this get sabotaged? You know what? They won’t sell tickets, and they will have to cancel the show. They sold out in a matter of days.”
She also encourages her fans to pursue God’s plan for their lives. “The choice is pretty simple: Keep letting fear sidetrack you or take what you’ve been given, maybe even told from God above, and say yes,” she wrote for Glamour. “But whatever it is, keep going. Keep doing it.”
Orji has since become a successful comedian and actress. Her story is an amazing reminder that trusting in God’s path for our lives can lead us to roads beyond our wildest dreams.
Movieguide® previously reported on Orji:
INSECURE star Yvonne Orji is opening up about her commitment to staying celibate until marriage.
“I’m open, because why not?” she told PEOPLE of her decision to share this part of her life with the public. “I’m grounded in who I am.”
Orji continued, “Before any of [the fame] happened, I sat down with myself and with God and thought, when I make it, how do you want me to represent you while I’m here? It was like, OK, I know why I’m here. It’s to make you proud.”
“People ask about it because they’re curious, or they may not understand,” the actress explained. “How will they ever understand if I don’t talk about it? I can inform your curiosity, as opposed to everyone being in the dark and just sort of creating their own narrative about it.”
Orji spoke more about her celibacy during an appearance on Chelsea Handler’s “Dear Chelsea” podcast, joking about what her future husband is in for.
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