AlabamaUncut Exclusive Interview: Funso Adeolu - "Women don't love again, I pity young men"

How and when did you start acting?

I started acting in 1987. I started with a stage play. Then I was in HNC Academy. I was doing stage acting until 1988/89 when I started featuring in New Dawn Club on the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA).

Ayo was the producer and Antar Laniyan was the director. Since then I have been on TV though I love stage play more. My love for acting is very uncommon. I believe my professional qualification will still be useful but there is nothing that can make me abandon acting.

Even if a company offers me a job of over N1million per month today, I won’t take it unless it is going to give me time to continue my acting career. Though one does not earn much in acting, I’m satisfied with what I’m getting.

I once had a ready-made job with nice pay. I was to head a research department for an advertising and event company. But I didn’t take it. You cannot take an office job and still be able to do other things. But in showbiz, you can.

Apart from acting what other talents do you have?

I am an athlete. I take after my dad in sports because he was very good in sports. He was a good athlete, a swimmer and a volley ball player. He took part in so many sporting events in his school days. During my ‘A’ levels, I played basket ball for my school. I was a very good goalkeeper and a full-back player. I used to play lawn tennis, too.

But along the line, I got interested in taekwondo, which I think every male child should try and go into because it will discipline you as a man. I’m a black-belt second down taekwondo holder. I used to represent my school at NUGA Games. Taekwondo training teaches you to be disciplined as a man. You will not fight outside anyhow.

Right now, I’m aware that if I get annoyed and I hit anybody, that person may die. So, I must take caution because by my training I’m supposed to be a killer. But the victim must be someone that will defend himself. It is not for fighting anyhow. If you hit me and you are not a taekwondo fighter, I would not hit you back. But if you are trying to do something funny, I’ll fight my way out.

I am also good in music. A few actors are trying to get into music. But they are not doing it well because they are not musicians. I’m a musician. I play the keyboard, drums, guitar and trumpet. I have a band and go out to play at weekends. I sing in some of the movies that I have done. In Akorede I was playing keyboard and I was singing. I do the same on Family Ties. I composed the soundtracks for my movies. I don’t go to pay anybody. I have even lectured at Baptist Music Workshop, Iwo in Osun State.

What would you have been if you were not an actor?

I left so many things that could bring me a lot of money. I might not be known but I would be very rich. My dad is rich and he has a big business. As the first son, I should be in charge of the business making money but I left the business for acting. I did advertising to the last level. I’m an APCON fellow but I did not practise. I wanted to be a lawyer.

I had a delay before entering university because I wanted to study Law. I left secondary school in 1985, I couldn’t gain admission until four years after and I ended up studying Guidance and Counselling. After graduation, my dad was always encouraging me to study further and he was ready to sponsor me. I saw money in advertising, but I wanted to be an actor.

What is your relationship with women?

I respect women a lot. No matter how young she is, I won’t sit down to shake a lady. I will stand up. When I was growing up, I was exposed to so many things. So, I began to see women like I am seeing them right now since I was 20. Those things that you see in me that look like a gentleman’s stuff have been in me right from when I was growing up. I have learnt to respect ladies a lot. I don’t like hurting them at all. I cannot beat a lady. I’m not a typical Nigerian who sees his wife as a second fiddle. This African mentality makes a man fight his wife regularly.

Do you believe in love?

I have been there a long time ago when it comes to dealing with women. At the age of 13, I already had a girlfriend. I have seen everything about women. Women of nowadays don’t love. They are after something else. So I pity our young men that are planning to get married now. I pity them a lot. If I had not been married that year, the next year or a year after that, I would be married but I would not love my wife. I would not expect that the love she had for me is genuine. I would know she is probably in love because I’m a star.

How do you cope with family and career challenges?

Challenges to me are just occupational hazards. But I don’t have a choice. I feel stronger when I face a challenge and I always enjoy it. Sometimes, it might not even be a challenge at work. It could be at home, family or anything. But I don’t usually have problems in my house because my wife is my friend, my very close friend. Once in a while, when I have disturbance from home, once I get to the set I forget it. It doesn’t mean that there are no challenges but I don’t like calling them challenges.

I always say this: when things are going on smoothly for you then you are not a man. You are not even a human being. You must have ups and downs. Your way must be rough. But once you can turn your stumbling block to a stepping stone you will always move on with your life. I understand emotion very well and I know how to manoeuvre it instead of allowing it to manoeuvre me. If I am annoyed I know how to get out of it easily because I know that if I get annoyed I will give myself a headache.

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