Deardre flew all the way from England to watch her friend Dunni walk down the aisle and, possibly,meet her own African prince. No movie has ever achieved the success achieved by The Wedding Party as far as casting is concerned. Let’s talk about Deardre Winston (Daniella Down), she is one of the bridesmaid.
For the first time in Nollywood movies, the white actor actually could act! Obviously, The Crew of Wedding Party did not just go to China Town to find ‘a white person’ that ends up just moping around in the movie, frustrating the efforts of others. The way Deardre fought for the attention of Nonso Dozie’s brother is quite hilarious but very real!
Daniella began her career in contemporary and physical theatre in the UK, having attained a first class degree with honours in Performing Arts. She toured self-devised pieces such as ‘Havisham’ with her co-founded theatre company En-root and performed in ‘West Side Story’ and ‘Woyzeck’, and ‘OldBoy’ with FullTilt.
Daniella returned to her hometown Hong Kong to work in film, most notably ‘Drink Tea Ghost Man’ and Chinese TV series ‘Spring in The City’, as a voice over artist dubbing Chinese and Japanese cartoons and film into English and voicing commercials, and as a writer.
Work and a passion for travel took her around the world, to London and then to Amsterdam where she has continued in film and voice work. She is known for her role as the flighty American Ellie in ‘The Conversations’ (Haider Zafar & Marcus Flemmings, 2016), which has one best film in 3 international film festivals and as Sam in the Nigerian-British quirky comedy ‘Mum, Dad Meet Sam’ (Tony Sebastian Ukpo, 2014). It was during this film she was introduced to the Nollywood when the film did a cinema run.
Last two year saw the success of The Wedding Party (Kemi Adetiba, 2016) breaking Nigerian box office records, in which she played Deirdre Winston. She is returning to The Wedding Party for the sequel, Destination Dubai as the principle female. The sequel is scheduled for a December 2017 release.
Daniella’s projects are varied and reflect her passion for traveling. ‘The Shell Collector’ (directed by Kevin Tadge) an American-Hong Kong film, will release later in 2017. Other creative projects include an underwater music video (Coldplay Ghost Stories Live Tour), experimental short films such as ‘The other Violence’ (directed by Michael Sewando), playing Elizabeth Bennett in a Hong Kong theatrical reworking of Pride & Prejudice, and many creative writing projects.
Trivia (2)
Daniella grew up in Hong Kong, after moving there in 1997. She is one of 5 siblings.
Daniella specializes in physical and experimental theatre, and she has been involved in numerous original and classic plays and physical adaptations, including ‘Old Boy’- a physical interpretation of Chan-wook Park’s film. She is also a trained voice over artist.
The Wedding party follows the shenanigans that go on during the planning of a wedding in Nigeria. Dunni, a 24 year old art gallery owner and only daughter of her parents, Engineer Bamidele and Mrs Tinuade Coker, is about to marry the love of her life, IT entrepreneur Dozie, the handsome son of Chief Felix and Lady Obianuju Onwuka. The couple took a vow of chastity and are looking forward to a ground -breaking first night together as a married couple. Between matchmaking attempts on the bridal train, a wedding planner on a mission to succeed, the unruly behaviour of some ‘village’ guests much to Tinuade’s horror, Dunni’s uncertainty about her new husband’s faithfulness during the time of their courtship, amidst colourful aso-ebi, eclectic music, small chops, and souvenir drama, we begin to wonder whether Dunni and Dozie will get through their wedding reception unscathed.
Actress Daniella Down talks being ‘Samantha Smith ‘ in ‘Mum, Dad, Meet Sam’ Watch the lead actress, talk about her role in the hit comedy movie, ‘Mum, Dad, Meet Sam’,