Omar Captan: Powered by looks and ability

By Rebecca Kwei
He is suave and exudes an aura that easily draws him to others.
There’s little doubt that actor, Omar Shariff Captan’s good looks and acting abilities are the elements that have kept him in the movie business for the past 22 years.
For someone who studied electrical engineering at the Accra Technical Training Centre, little did he know that he would one day be tagged as an international actor.
His ‘accidental landing’ in the industry came about while he was working as a Production Assistant on the movie, ‘Diabolo’.
“It was the late Fred Addy who saw me work as a production assistant and encouraged me to go into acting because he felt I could do well in that field,” Omar recalled.
“I took his advice and even started to believe in myself because I had performed on stage during my time at Snaps and Benkum Secondary schools,” he added.
A year later, in 1990, Omar had his debut in ‘Outrage’ where he starred alongside more experienced screen personalities like Mac Jordan Amartey, Eunice Banini and Super OD.
He then had another role in ‘My Sweetie’ the following year and other movies he could not immediately recall.
Omar’s major break came in 1996 when he played the lead role as a drug baron in ‘Dark Sands’.
He played his part well and offers to star in other movies started to pour in. He has been in some Ghana-Nigeria collaborations and in hit soaps operas like ‘Tentacles’ and ‘Broadway.’
Omar says he has now lost count of the number of movies he has starred in, mostly as a lover boy or a bad guy over the last 22 years.
Omar’s other big break materialised in 2007 when he became part of the cast of M-net’s still-running popular soap opera, ‘Tinsel.’
Shot in Nigeria, ‘Tinsel’ is packed with drama, passion, secrets and betrayal and is set against the background of a Lagos-based film studio in which romance, ambition and family feuds turn the boardroom into a battleground, and life into a rollercoaster of emotions and adventure.
Omar plays the role of Reginald Okoh, a smooth-talking workaholic who finds himself caught up in a love triangle.
“Being part of ‘Tinsel’ has been amazing. I have learnt a lot of things from how to go about shooting in a studio to improving my acting skills,” he said.
Omar’s view is that the movie business in Ghana has seen tremendous improvement but he was not happy about the fact that old actors were not being featured in movies even when their inputs were needed.
“Why must you paint the beard of a young man white just to portray him as an old man when there are old actors who can play that role?” he queried.
“The Harrison Fords, Sean Connerys and Michael Douglases are still acting. Even in neighbouring Nigeria, you still have old actors in active roles. Why not Ghana?”
Another challenge with the movie business, according to Omar, has to do with executive producers whom he described as businessmen and not producers.
He explained that because the executive producers are businessmen, their desire is often to make quick profit out of what they had invested. This sometimes leads to the influx of low-quality movies on the market.
Aside acting, Omar has learnt on the job to be a cameraman, sound technician and editor.
In between his acting career, he has also worked with various corporate organisations such as Mitsubishi, Corporate Guardian and AFGO.
He currently manages D’Imago, an advertising, film production and event management firm.
He does not see himself retiring from the movie business soon since he aspires to be an executive producer as well as a director in the near future.
Born in Accra to Samir Captan, the current Chairman of the Ghana Boxing Association and Naomi Awuku, Omar has two daughters: Paula, 10 and Doreen, 7.
On his relationship status, Omar says “I dey” with a coy smile.