Veteran Nollywood Actor Yemi Solade Opens Up on His Struggle with Church and Industry Myths

Strategic Insights -

Nigerian veteran actor, Yemi Solade, has recently shared his personal struggles with a clash between his religious and professional life, as well as his disagreement with widely-held myths in the Nollywood industry. Speaking during an episode of the Honest Bunch podcast, Solade recounted how a 2013 incident led him to stop attending church after a pastor instructed him to turn down movie jobs on Sundays. He explained that the pastor's directive was impractical for someone in the entertainment industry and an attempt to interfere with his livelihood. Solade, who argued that the same money earned from his career was used to support the church, emphasized that he had peace after leaving the church.

Key Takeaways:

  • Yemi Solade revealed that a clash with his former church almost ruined his acting career due to a pastor's instruction to reject movie jobs on Sundays.
  • Solade argued that the pastor's directive was impractical for someone in the entertainment industry and an attempt to interfere with his livelihood.
  • He stressed that the same money earned from his career was used to support the church and claimed that leaving the church brought him more peace than constant attendance ever did.
  • Solade, an actor from the Obafemi Awolowo University, criticized the culture of prioritizing religious obligations over work and recalled how a technician diverted part of his money to the church.
  • He also disputed claims that Nollywood started with the 1992 Igbo blockbuster Living in Bondage, instead attributing the origin of home video to a 1988 production by Ade Ajiboye (Big Abbas).
  • Solade claimed that the South-East was late in adopting theatre as an academic pursuit, unlike universities in the South-West where theatre studies flourished since the 1980s.

Statistics:

  • Yemi Solade was born, but information about his exact age and birth year is not included in the text source.
  • The pastor's directive to reject movie jobs on Sundays occurred in 2013.
  • Ade Ajiboye (Big Abbas) produced the first home video, "Shosho Meji", in 1988.
  • Solade and his wife attended church in 2013, but left the church after the incident.
  • Six universities in Nigeria, none in the East, had theatres at the time of Solade's graduation (mid-1980s).

Sources:

  • "Veteran Nollywood actor, Yemi Solade, has revealed how a clash with his former church almost ruined his acting career..." - No exact publication name given for the Honest Bunch podcast episode.