For Jumoke Olamide Odetola, she is a baby in the Yoruba movie genre of Nollywood but she has carved a niche for herself. She became a force to reckon with over the night via her dexterity in interpreting her movie roles. The talented star in the making, whose debut movie, Binta Ofege recently won Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Award in the Best Indigenous Movie Category, has been the toast of many movie producers and directors in the industry since she delved into it in 2011. Recently, Yorubamoviegist.com had an encountered with her where she explained to us how her late father blessed her acting career a few days to his death. ![IMG-20151228-WA0008-200x300]()
According to her,” when I started acting, I was not bold enough to tell anyone in my family that I had interest in acting because of the kind of father I had, he’s late now. So, I was not bold enough to talk to him about it. But it was something developed in the closet. Then, I would stand in front of the mirror act to myself or look at the mirror and start acting, I got a camera which I will set in my room, act to myself then watch and criticized later for me to do better until one day when my sister caught me in the act. I didn’t know she was right behind me, she was watching and she was overwhelmed, she screamed which I had to cover her mouth and begged her not to alert other people in the house. So that is how it all started, she was the one who encourages me. I couldn’t face my dad to tell him but, she said you are the last born of the family and we all got better professions. My dad wanted all his children to be professionals like accountant, Doctor and the rest, but my sister said that being the last child you could actually do this if you have our supports, I think he was actually scared of any of the older taking up that step so that others will not follow, but being the last child I guess it could be excused. She was the one that gave me the confidence and that is how we started and then the person I used to see as an idol was Omotola Jolade or the person that weird me or prompted me, that made me feel wow this is Linda Boli Inheritance. When I started, I didn’t tell him, infact when I think I was hiding it he already knew. I thought he thinks I was still doing my masters, I didn’t know he had seen me and people had told him until he was ill, that was before we shot Binta Ofege. At that point, I looked at him and i said dad there is something I will like to tell you that I have been keeping from you, before I landed, he said, I know it. He said just last week I saw you in front of the TV, and I was proud you. I was happy to see my name on TV as your father. I was so surprised when he said it because that was the most shocking revelation for me, because I wasn’t expecting it. I am very happy that I told him before he passed on and he prayed for me to be successful in the profession. I want to say that I got his blessings because my father died on the last day of the production of my movie, Binta Ofege. It was immediately we finished the production that I got a call that he had died. I know that if he had died during the production, it could have shattered the production and probably we wouldn’t have finished the production. We dedicated the movie to him at the end, credit of the memory of my late father Pa Olusoji Odetola, a father and a moralist because that is what he represented. My father’s blessings made me win AMVCA because that is my first movie production”, she narrated.
According to her,” when I started acting, I was not bold enough to tell anyone in my family that I had interest in acting because of the kind of father I had, he’s late now. So, I was not bold enough to talk to him about it. But it was something developed in the closet. Then, I would stand in front of the mirror act to myself or look at the mirror and start acting, I got a camera which I will set in my room, act to myself then watch and criticized later for me to do better until one day when my sister caught me in the act. I didn’t know she was right behind me, she was watching and she was overwhelmed, she screamed which I had to cover her mouth and begged her not to alert other people in the house. So that is how it all started, she was the one who encourages me. I couldn’t face my dad to tell him but, she said you are the last born of the family and we all got better professions. My dad wanted all his children to be professionals like accountant, Doctor and the rest, but my sister said that being the last child you could actually do this if you have our supports, I think he was actually scared of any of the older taking up that step so that others will not follow, but being the last child I guess it could be excused. She was the one that gave me the confidence and that is how we started and then the person I used to see as an idol was Omotola Jolade or the person that weird me or prompted me, that made me feel wow this is Linda Boli Inheritance. When I started, I didn’t tell him, infact when I think I was hiding it he already knew. I thought he thinks I was still doing my masters, I didn’t know he had seen me and people had told him until he was ill, that was before we shot Binta Ofege. At that point, I looked at him and i said dad there is something I will like to tell you that I have been keeping from you, before I landed, he said, I know it. He said just last week I saw you in front of the TV, and I was proud you. I was happy to see my name on TV as your father. I was so surprised when he said it because that was the most shocking revelation for me, because I wasn’t expecting it. I am very happy that I told him before he passed on and he prayed for me to be successful in the profession. I want to say that I got his blessings because my father died on the last day of the production of my movie, Binta Ofege. It was immediately we finished the production that I got a call that he had died. I know that if he had died during the production, it could have shattered the production and probably we wouldn’t have finished the production. We dedicated the movie to him at the end, credit of the memory of my late father Pa Olusoji Odetola, a father and a moralist because that is what he represented. My father’s blessings made me win AMVCA because that is my first movie production”, she narrated.