Nollywood actor, Sam Anyamele, never
thought that film acting would become his primary means of livelihood
someday. As a teenager, acting was just his favorite pastime.....
The actor, in an interview with our
correspondent, revealed that although his passion for the arts and
entertainment was nurtured through music, by the time he had left
secondary school his eyes were already fixed on starting a career in
music.
He could play the guitar very well and
had, at different times, had short stints with different music bands
around Lagos, including the popular DKB band – well-known for backing up
most of the popular musicians in the country.
Also, Anyamele used to play in Sammy Needle’s band as a bass guitarist and backup singer.
Going down memory lane, he said, “My
contemporaries were people like Mike Aremu, Wole Oni and Kunle Odutayo.
Wole, Kunle and I used to be in the same band. I have forgotten the name
of the band,
“At a point, I wanted to join Femi
Kuti’s Afrobeat band as a guitarist, but the Christian in me couldn’t
cope with the kind of lifestyles that members of the band led. I
couldn’t imagine myself performing on stage alongside half-naked female
dancers.
“I just couldn’t bring myself to play in
such a band where people smoked a lot. I felt that, as a member of the
Assemblies of God Church, I shouldn’t be seen in that kind of company,”
he said. And that was long before he decided to focus on film acting.
Like most people, he was lured into film
acting by the prospect of getting rich, getting famous and enjoying a
glamorous lifestyle. But he did not get a break until he joined the cast
of Wale Adenuga’s Superstory.
Ayamele was on the set of a new movie in
Lagos last week. The film, tentatively titled, Mistake of a Night, is
currently in the post-production stage. But it appears that his
involvement in the work-in-progress was all about staying relevant in
the fast-growing movie industry, which has evolved considerably over the
last two decades.
To keep up the appearances, the actor
had to squeeze out time from his tight schedule as a postgraduate
student and graduate assistant at the University of Lagos, Akoka Campus
to do this.
He explained why he decided to stay off
the screen for a while and go back to school. “I have always thought
about the next phase of life. So when I discovered in Nollywood that
decisions were generally driven by sentiments and prospective actors
were given roles on a movie simply on the basis of their looks, I
decided that it was not the kind of place I should depend on for the
rest of my life. As a pragmatic Nigerian, I had to think seriously about
doing other things,” he said.
Also, recalling a certain period in the
history of Nollywood when film marketers and distributors, who were also
the major financiers of the movie industry at the time, decided to
punish some popular actors and actresses by ‘banning’ them from
participating in movie productions, he said, “That was when my fears
about Nollywood were confirmed and I made up my mind not to tie my
future to the industry.”
Still reflecting on the weaknesses
inherent in the movie industry, Anyamele added, “I found out that many
of those who made decisions for the industry, who spoke to the
government on our behalf in those days, were not really core
practitioners. That encouraged me to go back to school and get more
education.”
Anyamele’s talent extends to drama
productions, a surprisingly difficult terrain for many so-called screen
idols in Nigeria. But he claims to be as comfortable when acting on
stage as he is behind the cameras.
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