“Watching My Dad Die Was Challenging For Me”: Actor Akinola Akano Segbowe On His Career
Even though, today, he is the producer of several outstanding movies, with one currently showing in cinemas, fast-rising Nollywood actor Akinola Akano didn't start big. Segbowe, from 'Awon Aladun' on African Magic, as everyone prefers to call him, is also a scriptwriter and movie producer who takes Hollywood actor Tyler Perry as a role model and is a proud producer of six Nollywood movies.
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In this interview by Legit.ng's FEMI OGUNTAYO, the Ibadan-born actor talks about his humble beginning, how he successfully took his production to the cinema amongst other issues.
Source: Instagram
Growing up for Segbowe wasn't all rosy
From having to hawk fried fish on the streets of Ibadan, Oyo State capital city, to losing his father later on while in higher institution, Segbowe has grown to become a man of his own and today, he is now one of the big faces on our screens. He currently stars as Segbowe in the popular Yoruba television family drama series 'Awon Aladun' showing on African Magic.
It was quite challenging for him to watch his father die.
"Even though, I wouldn't say I didn't grow up with a father. I did grow up with a father. It is just that he passed away so soon, I was in my 20s when he passed away. But then, it was challenging to have watched him leave," he said almost silently.
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The hustle and bustle and choosing a career path
Growing up, he had always wanted to be in the entertainment industry and listed many things he wanted to become. Now he could boast of being a successful scriptwriter, actor and movie producer in his own right.
"All my life, I had wanted to be in the entertainment industry. I had a lot of things I wanted to do in the industry. I wanted to be a model, an actor, a TV and radio presenter, scriptwriter, movie producer and all that. At some point I just had to list out all these things in order of how best I could perform in all these roles. Not that I haven't tried all, I have tried all except TV presenting. While at that, I was going for auditions, I was writing letters and proposals to TV stations for an opportunity but it never came though. I was once a radio presenter in Ibadan, so I was able to explore all. But the core ones after all my exploration were script writing, acting and movie production. These have always been part of me right from childhood; I had always found myself amongst actors. Like I gathered my friends in school, in church and we acted dramas. So, it has always been part of me," he said.
The game-changer for his career
At some point in one's life, one would realize that one's life would never remain the same anymore; that is what one can term the 'game-changer'. But, like every successful person today, failure was always part of the story from the beginning; Segbowe had his share of rough beginnings.
He said: "The game changer for me would be when I could produce my first movie. Although I have tried to produce a movie before then, that was in 2016, I tried to produce a TV series, the title was 'College Affairs', but it never saw the light of the day. The money I spent on that project ran into millions. The movie's technical aspect wasn't good enough; even the casting was not good. Overall, it was not really a good job, it was my first attempt at production, but it didn't see the light of the day. I was really down, but then, I was able to produce again in 2017/18 – this one was a movie this time.
"I did this with the help of a friend, Oluwanisola Abatan, he supported me with funds, the title of the movie was 'Eleri (The witness)' and it turned out really well. Sometimes, when you fail you just have to learn, pick up yourself and try again. We produced Eleri and everyone loved it. It was really huge on YouTube and African Magic also bought it from us. It was at that point in my life that I got the assurance that acting, script writing and movie production – filmmaking as a whole, is my calling."
His thoughts on auditioning to get cast for a movie production
Segbowe believes auditioning is more like an interview for any other job. According to him, it is where you will be put to the test to see what you could do before you are offered a job or a role, and it helps in casting for movie production.
However, he added:
"these days, I think it has been basterdized in a way. Although there are still some genuine auditions out there, but some auditions these days are used for publicity, they would just get people to come for their auditions and at the end of the day, nobody will be called. They are just putting out auditions out there just to create awareness for their movies, which is quite unfortunate. But, on a whole, audition really helps in giving a production a unique outcome."
On his first movie to make it to the cinemas 'Flatus'
To him, all his movie productions were born out of his passion to create something for people to laugh at and learn from. He wants anyone watching his movies to learn while they are being entertained, and the new movie 'Flatus' wasn't different.
"So, for Flatus, the special thing about it is that right from the start, the goal was to take it to the cinemas, to try that for the first time. Another thing is that, while I was producing it, I had this strong belief that it would be my first movie on the cinema screens as a scriptwriter, actor and movie producer. I have been in this industry for decades and have never been shown at cinemas as an actor. All I had always done was Television, cable, series, YouTube, and home videos. Not that I was never invited to take up roles in a cinema movie production, but one way or the other, I couldn't feature up until my production, 'Flatus'. I am grateful to God for that grace to break my record.
On the challenge of getting his movie shown in the cinema for the first time
"Getting it to the cinema was also really challenging, because it was my first time. Unfortunately, in this part of the world, people want to see what you have done first before they give you the opportunity. They would say, you are a new producer, will your movie sell? Will people come out to the cinemas to come and see your movie? But then, you have to be given the first time opportunity before you could show the world what you have to offer. So, it was one of the major challenges I faced. Eventually when it got to the cinema, even the distributor was amazed by the reviews they got from the viewers," he said
Successes recorded
According to Akinola, breaking his record of being able to take his movie to the cinema for the first time as a scriptwriter, actor and producer was a huge success for him.
"Another important one was that people loved 'Flatus', you could see it on their faces and from the feedbacks I got, a lot of lesson were learnt. These are really dear to me. It is important to make impact, which has been my goal as a filmmaker. And, yes, we have been to make some money as well. Maybe not too much but it has been a good start," he added.
What Akinola Akano Segbowe stands for
His mission and vision are to impact and infuse the gospel of moral values and life lessons in his movies.
"I also want to help people grow and showcase their talents in my works," he said.
Tikuku Crooner Candy Bleakz on Booming Rap Career
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Akiode Blessing known professionally as Candy Bleakz who is buzzing in the music scene at the moment, but just as it was for many before her, crawled before finding her feet in the industry.
Even though the rapper’s journey was a challenging one also, her prayers arrived at the firmament when her 2022 single, Tikuku, struck a chord in the hearts of music lovers.
With the acceptance of the track, the rapper had, however, shown, the world more of what she could offer, especially since she now had the attention of a large audience.
Source: Legit.ng
