Rita Dominic (Born 12 July 1975, Age: 48 years old) is a Nigerian actress known for her roles in many Nigerian films.
Rita Dominic is one of the few Nigerian actresses who seem to be almost as old as Nollywood despite being many years younger. Currently 48 years old, the beautiful actress has come a long way in both her career and personal life that she now stands as the symbol of talent and hard work in the industry, side by side with other greats, including Genevieve Nnaji, Omotola Jalade, and few others.
Even though the actress has remained on our screens for years that seem unending and in the news for almost always, very personal details about her, such as her biography and how she was brought up, as well as the starting point of her career and how it has evolved are not easy to find.
Summary Of Rita Dominic’s Biography
- Full name: Rita Uchenna Nkem Dominic Nwaturuocha
- Gender: Female
- Date of birth: 12 July 1975
- Place Of Birth: Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria
- Rita Dominic’s Age: 48 years old
- Ethnicity: African
- Nationality: Nigerian
- Tribe: Igbo
- Zodiac Sign: Cancer
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
- Religion: Christianity
- Marital Status: Married
- Rita Dominic’s Husband: Fidelis Anosike
- Siblings: Two sisters and a brother, Valentine Dominic
- University: University of Port Harcourt
- Rita Dominic’s Height in Inches: 5 feet and 6 inches
- Rita Dominic’s Weight: 73 kg
- Body measurements in inches: 34-25-34
- Body Type: Slim
- Hair Color: Dark brown
- Eye Color: Dark brown
- Rita Dominic’s Net worth: $3.5 million
- Famous for: Being an actress
- Rita Dominic’s Instagram: ritadominic
- Twitter: @ritaUdominic
Rita Dominic Is An Igbo Woman Born And Raised In Eastern Nigeria
Currently 48 years old, Rita Dominic was born Rita Uchenna Nkem Dominic Nwaturuocha on 12 July 1975, in the South-Eastern Nigerian state of Imo. It was also there that her parents brought her up as the youngest of four kids. She had a normal and healthy childhood with the love and the support of her parents and older siblings in all she did.
She got her education from Federal Government College Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State. There, she proceeded to the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, also in Southern Nigeria. She graduated in 1999 with a BA (Honours) in Theatre Arts.
For someone who was brought up by parents who worked as health practitioners, one would have thought Rita was going to follow in the footsteps of her father,, who was a doctor, or that of her mother, who was a nursing officer, instead, she had a natural inclination to acting since she was a little girl.
As stated, the actress was born in her hometown of Mbaise in Imo State. She is Igbo by tribe, but more than that, she is an important member of the tribe, being a member of the royal Nwaturuocha family of Aboh. She also speaks her dialect fluently while she also understands a little of Yoruba.
Igbo is among the three main tribes in Nigeria, including Hausa and Yoruba, and like the two, it also has a sub-movie industry within Nigeria’s Nollywood. However, even though Rita Dominic is one of the biggest names in Nollywood, she has not gotten involved in the Igbo sub-industry of Nollywood. This is easy to understand since most Nollywood films are centered around the Igbo culture.
There Has Been A Controversy Surrounding Her Actual Age
It has always been believed that the actress was born on July 12, 1975, as she has maintained, which means that in 2015, she was 40. However, a lady who claimed she was her primary school mate when they were kids at Santa Maria Primary School in Aba, insisted the actress was not revealing her real age.
The said lady, whose name is Chika, claimed that she was the actress’s classmate. She revealed that the 40th birthday that the actress was celebrating should have been done three years earlier, suggesting that the actress brought down her age by three years. If this claim is anything to go by, it means that instead of 48 years old, which is now thought to be her real age, she is allegedly 51 years old.
The actress has not given heed to the claims as there is no indication that she made any statement on the claims.
Rita Dominic Was 23 When She Made Her Professional Acting Debut
The silver screen icon, as CNN has described her, has been in the entertainment business for a better part of her life. She got drawn to acting when she was only a girl of five years old. At that age, she was said to be interested in both music and acting, although it is her acting side that seemed to get the better side of her later. Early in life, the versatile actress was already appearing on local television dramas. Beyond this, she entered various music and dancing competitions.
Rita Dominic made her professional debut as an actress when she was 23 years old in the 1998 film, A Time To Kill. That was also the year that she appeared in Children of Terror. By the next year, when she was 24, she already had a long list of roles to her name, including in the 1999 film Aba Riot in which she appeared alongside some of Nollywood’s finest stars, Segun Arinze and Olu Jacobs.
Rita Dominic was already a fast-rising star when she graduated from university in 1999 at the age of 24. By the time she appeared in the highly acclaimed White Waters (2008) at the age of 33, she had already had close to a hundred movie roles to her name and today, she has more than 150 movies and TV roles in her portfolio. Her best years were between 2003 and 2008 when she had too many roles to keep up with.
The veteran actress has won many awards so far in her career, with the first traceable award going back to 2004 when she clinched the City Peoples Award for Outstanding actress. She was 29 years old at the time. Rita would go on to win more awards, but it was in 2012 when she was 37 that she won the most coveted Africa Movie Academy Awards for Best Actress In a Leading Role, thanks to her resonating role in Shattered. As far as awards are concerned, her best year was 2013 when she won awards such as the Best of Nollywood Awards, Nollywood Movies Awards, Nigeria Entertainment Awards, Africa International Film Festival, and ELOY AWARDS.
All her efforts have culminated in an estimated net worth of $3 million.
A Closer Look At Rita Dominic’s Family
Rita Dominic was raised in a beautiful family together with an older brother and two siblings.
Her Parents Were Medical Workers
As stated, the parents of Rita Dominic were both medical workers. Although she has never revealed their names, she has always talked about them and how they have impacted her life.
Having attained so much success in her career as an actress, Rita Dominic revealed in a 2009 interview that one of her biggest regrets in life was that her parents were both not alive to witness all the successes she has achieved in spite of all the support and encouragement they gave her while growing up and stepping out from the medical line of the family.
Her Brother’s Name Is Valentine Dominic
Rita has an older brother whose name is Valentine Dominic. Although she has not revealed so much about him, she once celebrated him on his birthday on 7th October 2013. If the pictures she shared of him and the wishes are anything to go by, one can’t be wrong to state that the two share a great bond.
Her Two Older Sisters Are Based In The UK
Being the youngest member of the family, Rita Dominic also has two older sisters who are in the United Kingdom. Details about the two sisters have not been revealed, but we can say that they both seem to be married and living in the UK where they also reside with their respective families.
