Ageless actor, Clarion Chukwurah has practically lived all her life as a role interpreter from stage to screen. She featured in her first movie at age 14.
She knew very early what she wanted to become. Having being inspired by the late Elizabeth Taylor who played the role of Cleopatra in a movie, she made up her mind to follow her dreams.
Clarion Chukwura
Her first role on stage was in Prof. Bode Sowande’s play, Farewell To Babylon. She played the role of Jolomi Tutu. While her first role on television was a TV series, Bello’s Way where she acted as Bello’s daughter and her first movie was her role as Yemi in Ola Balogun’s Money Power. They were all in the early 80s. It is instructive to note that Clarion made a name for herself with a superlative performance in the stage play, The King Must Dance also in the 80s before she became a household name with popular TV soap opera, Mirror In The Sun.
Her first paying job was working as a Bata sales assistant before she finished secondary school.
Clarion Chukwurah was born on Sunday July 24th,1964 at the University Teaching Hospital Lagos to Mr.John and Mrs. Christianah Chukwurah of 14/16 Agard street off Commercial Avenue,Yaba-Lagos Nigeria. She attended Moluka and Lady Nursery Schools in Yaba Lagos and All Saints Primary School, Montgomery road, Yaba Lagos.
The death of her father in 1975 when she was aged 11years moved her to live with paternal uncle in Aba, Abia state. She attended Queen of our Rosary College (Q.R.C), Onitsha, Anambra State, her home town for her secondary school education. She was listed on the Daily Times as having passed her Common Entrance examination with the highest aggregate thus with the choice to attend a federal government college and she chose Q.R.C. She began acting as a keenly interested teenager in October,1979, having played Lady Macbeth in Williams Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ both school plays while at Q.R.C.
She became a semi-profesional actor with the university of Ibadan Performing company and also joined Tunji Oyelana’s band, ‘The Kenneries’ as a back-up vocal on July 1st 1980. She left the UPC to further her professional training at the University of Ife now O.A.U, Ile-ife, Nigeria, on Oct 1st 1981.She became a professional actor in 1984. Clarion did a three weeks refresher speech course in Leeds (North England) in 1997 sponsored by the West African Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds. In the 30 years span of her professional career, she has won several local and international awards, worked in Nigeria, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania and Cameroon on stage and on screen.
She has attended several theatre workshops, theatre business seminars, script conferences and refresher courses. A deeply talented actor, she acquired skills with training and experience to emerge as one of the best at method acting in Africa.
A continous student of history and literature .She is a voracious
fan of historical movies/books, adventures, covert intelligence and forensic science.
The mother of two sons was awarded the United Nations Peace medal on Sept 21, 2010 at the ECOWAS Building, Abuja, Nigeria for her multi-national philanthropic activities in support of women and children. A Rotarian, she believes in discipline, loyalty and hard work. She is the executive chairman of C.C.I international operative in three countries-Nigeria, Guyana and Kenya and Producer, Jade Productions Limited, Nigeria; owners of the copyright name, Clarion Chukwurah.
She is the mother of the popular music video director and CEO of CAPital Dreams – Clarence Abiodun Peters.
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