Kemi Lala Akindoju, actress and movie producer has revealed how she landed her big role as co-producer for the first Netflix Naija original series.
During an Instagram live session organised by Judith Audu, Nigerian actress, Akindoju walked us through this incredible journey and told us how it began.
Akindoju recalled the defining moment she met Akin Omotosho, Nollywood producer:
“In 2010/2011 I was still growing as an actor. I am very close to my senior colleagues because there are things they know that you don’t know,” she said.
According to her, actress Nse Ikpe-Etim urged her to attend AFRIFF and look for Akin Omotosho.
“I attended AFriff and watched Omotosho’s film “Man on Ground,” and I said to myself, ‘This are the kind of films I want to do.” He gave me his E-mail address and I messaged him. He became my teacher and I stayed in touch with him.”
She continued: ” Over the years I have availed myself to serve, learn and grow. Omotosho became one of my influencers. He presented my Trail Blazer AMVCA award to me. Years back we worked on the movie ” The Ghost and the House of Truth” together. When Omotosho got the Netflix job, he needed to put a team together and he reached out to me.
“The reason I got the co-producing job on Netflix is because I did a good job as co-producer on “The Ghost and the House of Truth.”
“Although I went through different levels of assessment, it was as a result of proving myself.”
Advise for upcoming actors
Lala Akindoju who started her acting career in 2005 in stage drama before venturing into feature films advised upcoming actors on the transition from acting on stage to acting on screen.
“Don’t restrict yourself to one medium of performance,” she said. “You should be able to perform on stage, TV, movies and on radio. To cross over, consider yourself an actor, it doesn’t matter where you started. Get the training and technique. In my case, I found the late Amaka Igwe and enrolled for a course in Acting for the camera in her studio. Prepare yourself to function on every platform and acquire skills. Watch films, read books, attend film festivals, copy actors and keep working.”
