Nigerian talented actress and producer Funke Aaklindele-Bello, on her new YouTube channel, has shared some things about herself many were not privy of.
The actress and mom of two opened up on her career and how she almost gave up acting.
In her words;
“I
am going to be very personal here, talk about some things I’ve been
through in life and liken them to whatever you are going through right
now.
“Many young people are going through a lot to survive. Struggles, challenges, obstacles and they may want to give up.
“I
want you to look at me and my story. When I started acting in 1998, I
remember how I struggled to get up there, I got a lot of “no’s”. I was
the ‘queen’ of auditions and ‘wakapass’ roles. I would read so well and
people will clap, I will be so excited and would think when I get the
list, I would get a supporting role. But all I got were roles like
church extracts. I remember crying on those occasions.
“But my
mother would tell me that I’ve got the passion and it is a God-given
talent. She would give me money for my transport fare; sometimes I would
trek to some places then take a bus to meet up.
“I could count
the number of shoes I had then, maybe two or three. But today, the story
has changed. Things changed for me positively.
“After ‘I need to
know’, I didn’t get any more roles, I went down; I got back to
attending auditions and lobbying, calling people and knocking on doors
but none opened. I felt I had lost my chance.
“I can remember
going for a project and I met an actress who spoke to the producer on my
behalf. I remember going to Oshogbo for the movie, I packed all my
clothes, I was so happy because I was told I was going to play a
supporting role. I got there, and we were supposed to film but something
happened to the generator and we couldn’t film. I was waiting to be
called to film in my hotel room but they did not.
“On the fifth
day, they called me and I was shocked. I was asked to play the role of a
secretary in two scenes. This was after playing a major role in ‘I need
to know’. It was devastating for me, I was crying but an actor advised
me to take it.
“I took the stipends I was given and went back to
Lagos. There were different situations like that where I could have
given up but my mother’s words kept encouraging me till I got my big
break to produce my own movie.
“So, do not give up, be expectant,” she said.
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