Kemi Lala Akindoju: Leaving insurance for acting almost gave my parents a heart attack

Actress Kemi Lala Akindoju has said that her decision to make a career out of acting shocked her parents.

In an interview on Arise TV on Thursday, the actress was asked if her parents had a heart attack as a result of her career switch, and she said: “Well, they almost did.”

The actress studied insurance at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) but always wanted to be an actor.

She said: “The thing is before I got into UNILAG; I hinted them and kept telling them about it. In my second year, they thought acting was just a hobby and I would focus on my degree.”

“After school I made them realise acting was not a hobby for me, but it was forever.”

Lala Akindoju revealed that she was extremely nervous when shooting Tunde Kelani’s ‘Dazzling Mirage’, her first movie as a lead character.

“I was really nervous because sometimes when you are working on a story that is purely fiction, it is different from when you are working on a story that people really exist,” she said.

“Every time I am like people living with sickle cell would watch this film and if they are represented I am not going to hear the last of it so I was very nervous but thankfully, the film was well received.”

The actress also noted that she deliberately ventured into stage acting so as to become a better all-round actor.

“I did theatre because I didn’t have any formal training, so I felt like being in theatre would help me understand how to characterise properly for roles and it helped,” she said.

“Theatre is my home, it’s like nervous energy, I think it urges and pushes the performance to be high and to be better.”

Harping on the looming scourge of piracy in Nollywood, the ‘Surulere’ actress said laws are in place but they are not being enforced.

“The laws need to be enforced, but they are not being enforced. There is digital distribution and so many avenues that can control piracy.”

Lala Akindoju won the trailblazer award at the 2016 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA).