"My father completely discouraged any of us from going into acting" – Gabriel Afolayan

Adeyemi Afolayan, called Adelove, the late father of actress and filmmaker Kunle Afolayan, has admitted that he discouraged his children from acting and filmmaking.

This was disclosed by Afolayan in a recent interview.

The top Nollywood director revealed that his late father, who is revered as one of Nigeria's early film pioneers, discouraged him and his siblings from entering the realm of make-believe because they didn't have a reliable source of income.

“He said there was no money. Just go and be a lawyer,” said Afolayan.

“My father completely discouraged any of us from going into acting or filmmaking. He said do you want to be running around like I’m running around. And those were things I learned which helped me structure the business side of what I do because I don’t want to end up like them.

“I remember after he passed then Nollywood came and then I would see these films with beautiful stories then I would be comparing them to the film of my dad and Ogunde with the production quality but how come the audio is bad, how come the makeup is lousy, how can we do and this and I said ok I want to be a filmmaker, I never said I wanted to be an actor.

“I went to Tade Ogidan and he said ok when we have something I will call you. I also went to Tunde Kilani, he said who are you to say you want to make a film? That your dad was a filmmaker doesn’t make you one, you have to learn it. Go to school and complete your education and then when they wanted to do ‘Saworo Ide’ in 1998, he called me to come and I auditioned. I played the role eventually but still wanted to make a film.”

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