By Quadri Akanbi
Talented and fast-rising Nollywood actor, Omotola Odunsi, popularly known as Omotola the actor, hails from Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State. She was born and raised in Ijebu-Ode, to be precise, where she attended her primary and secondary school. She also attended Our Lady Of Apostles Secondary School. A graduate of Microbiology from Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), in this interview with Quadri Akanbi, Omotola reveals why she chose acting as a career. According to her, it is mainly because she has a passion for the job, and it means life to her.

You are a graduate of Microbiology. How were you able to persuade your parents about your acting career?

It wasn’t difficult for me to tell my parents about my choice of career because my parents had the knowledge before. When I was in secondary school, I belonged to a drama group. So, when I got to the university, they saw the passion in me. About me now becoming an actor; when I told them I wanted to pursue my acting career, having been working in the bank, it was easy. As a banker, I was a credit officer, I had to resign from my banking job because then it was affecting me. I couldn’t go to locations and all that. And it was cool by them; they supported me. And ever since, then I have been getting their support.

You are famous in the Nollywood industry. How did you find your way into the acting world, and when did you start acting as a career?

I started acting back then when I was in university. I started with Lateef Adedimeji; we both went for a stage presentation. Along the line, I stopped for a while. I came back in 2018 under the leadership of Odunlade Adekola, who is my boss. That is how I find my way to the industry.

How do you describe your acting style?

I will describe my acting style as, like whenever I’m given my script, in the character I’m to portray, all I do is to digest it because acting is make-believe. So, after reading my script, I will visualize it and digest it. While digesting it, I will then put myself in that character to make it real. That’s my style of acting.

How do you feel when you make your fans become engrossed in the lives of your characters?

Yeah, I feel good when my fans love my character in any movie, because I always want them to know that I’m up to the task. Whenever I act my character out in any movie, and they love and appreciate it, it’s always a thing of joy for me. It makes me feel blessed and more motivated.

Describe your most challenging role to date

I have done some challenging roles, but to me, they are not challenging enough. I need more challenging roles, as in I want the industry to give me more challenging roles, roles that they know that I haven’t played before. This is because I love being challenged, yes I do. I love working on improving myself because that is what I do daily. I work on myself and my skills to become a better version of myself.

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Since you’ve been in the industry, how many movies have you produced or acted in so far?

Since I have been in the movie industry, I have not produced any movies, but I have featured in more than 60 movies.

Of the lot, which is your favorite film, and why?

I will say all the movies that I featured in are my favorite because if some people say they are bad movies, others will say they are good movies. But to me, in some bad movies, you will still learn one or two things in the movie because there is no way someone will produce a movie and a total rating of the movie will be zero. So, to me, all the movies that I have featured in are good, because whenever I am called to a movie set, the first thing I do is to go through the script. So, from me reading the script, I will know if the movie set is worth going for me or not. As I said earlier, no matter how bad a movie is, you will still learn some lessons from it. So, before I go for any job, I go through the script first because when you get to certain levels in the industry, there are some scripts you won’t want to accept. There are some roles you won’t want to play because accepting them might underrate you. It might even bring you down, so I consider all these before accepting roles.

As an actor, which actor and actress do you admire most, and why?
As an actor, the actor I admire the most is my boss, Odunlade Adekola. I can say that any time, any day. I admire him so much because he’s so very smart, intelligent. His knowledge is worthy of being emulated. I admire him a lot, and he is my role model. I will keep saying that over and over again. He is my role model, I admire him a lot.

What do you like doing with your free time?

What I do mostly with my free time is to go online to study more about my job, because I am the kind of actor that wants to know more. This is because now that I don’t have the ability tocan’t go and study more abroad, concerning my career, I do go on google and youtube to learn more about my job

What is your reaction to the people who mimic you?

Lol! It’s a thing of joy to me when I see people mimicking me, my job, or any character that I played in a movie, it’s a thing of joy, lol! I am always happy, I will be like wow! so people are watching and observing my works, it’s a thing of joy for me.

Are you in support of DNA tests in the family?

Well, fine, you know in a family, there should be an altar of trust, because coming together of two different people, there should be a force binding them, and the force is what I called, trust and understanding. You should be able to vouch and trust your partner, and if peradventure in the past, maybe your partner had done some things wrong that you must have to forgive her, maybe you caught her cheating, or something to just make peace reign in the family, you can do DNA. But before you go for a DNA test, try and call your partner, sit her down let her know the steps you want to take, because sometimes if you do a DNA test without you informing your wife and the result comes out, you find out that the baby is yours, believe me sincerely, it will pain your partner. With that, your partner might not even trust you again with her life, because she will be sad and feel, does that mean this man doesn’t trust me or something? So, before you take a step of doing a DNA test, call your wife, sit her down, and tell her that, see honey, it is not that I don’t trust you, but I just feel like doing this, are you in support of it? You know when you talk about it with your partner, her response will bring light to the situation, but if she is against it, trust me, there might be something fishy. So, it depends on how you present it to your wife. That is my take on the matter.

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Which was your most embarrassing day as an actor?

My most embarrassing day? Hmmm, okay. Presently as I am now, I don’t have a car. There was a time I was called to a movie location in Lagos, I had to leave from Abeokuta to Lagos at that time. And I have to go with my luggage, and it’s plenty; my costume and other necessary things. So, when I get to the movie location, and we have to move from that particular venue to another place where the movie will be shot, I don’t have a car, and the producer went to talk to a lady on my behalf because she has a car. The producer told her to assist me with her car, and I was there with them, and the lady said that she can’t carry me. She said it boldly, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t carry her, why would I carry her? Is she the one that bought the car for me or something? You know, I was so embarrassed, but I did not utter a word. And since then, I have been trying to God to provide a car for me. I am still trusting God for it.

What does the word hunger mean to you?

Hunger means when I need to learn more, and when I need to know more in all ways. That’s the kind of person I am. I’m always hungry to learn more and to know more. I am always hungry to add more value and innovation to myself. That’s the meaning of hunger to me. To me, it’s not when you are hungry, and you need to eat, No, that’s not it for me. To me, it’s when I am desperate and willing to add more to myself to acquire more knowledge, that’s what the word hunger means to me.

Do you have any upcoming projects?

Presently I do not have any personal upcoming projects, but I have a lot of featured jobs that I have to do, and to the glory of God, I am trusting God for funds to embark on my project. I am using the opportunity to say that I need an executive producer, an executive producer that is willing to sponsor or to support my career. I will be grateful.