Stella Damasus Wasn’t Supposed to Play Nosa in “To Kill a Monkey,” Until the Role Was Rewritten for Her

Stella Damasus almost missed out on Nosa in To Kill a Monkey. Here’s how a last-minute self-tape got the role rewritten for her and revived her career.

Picture this. You send in an audition tape with less than a day to spare, hear nothing back, and later find out the character was rewritten just for you. That’s what happened to Stella Damasus.

The veteran actress says Netflix’s To Kill a Monkey gave her career a fresh push. She also admits she wasn’t the first choice to play Nosa.

Stella shared the story on Pulse Nigeria’s “Old Vs New,” where she reacted to clips from her old and new work. Nosa was first written with a younger woman in mind, and casting was already wrapped up. Then someone on her management team urged her to try anyway.

Watch video here

The catch? She had less than 24 hours. She was in the US at the time, so she recorded the audition over a video call, with another actor in Nigeria reading the other lines. Not exactly a dream setup.

After that came silence. She figured the part had gone to someone else.

The team liked what they saw so much that they changed the character to fit her, instead of finding someone younger. That’s rare.

Usually, actors have to bend themselves to suit a role, not the other way around.

No wonder she says:
“To Kill a Monkey” moved my career forward.

These days, people still stop her to repeat Nosa’s lines. And it’s not only in Nigeria. It’s happened in the US, Canada and Ireland too.
She also says the shoot was tough, but in a good way. Even with all her years in the industry, it pushed her to go back and sharpen her craft.

She gave credit to her co-stars Lilian Afegbai, William Benson, Bucci Franklin and Sunshine Rosman for raising the bar on set.

To Kill a Monkey is created by Kemi Adetiba and landed on Netflix in July 2025. It follows a man who gets pulled into cybercrime after reconnecting with a childhood friend. Stella plays his wife, Nosa. Many people see it as one of Adetiba’s strongest projects since King of Boys.

It’s a good reminder that one rushed video, sent with almost no time left, can change everything. Sometimes the role you nearly missed turns out to be the one people remember you for.