- Teniola Aladese has opened up on her acting journey.
- The movie star in a recent interview who revealed that she always wanted to be a lawyer shared why she changed her mindset with just one book.
- Teniola who later studied mass communication disclosed her reason for not choosing theatre arts despite the support of her parents.
Nigerian movie actress Teniola Aladese has revealed why she ventured into acting.
In a recent episode of the WithChude podcast, the movie star said she initially had dreams of becoming a lawyer.
The film star said after reading a book by Christopher Darden, one of the prosecutors in the infamous OJ Simpson case, she had a change of heart.
With law no longer an option, Teniola said she turned to her plan B – acting.
She said growing up, she was fascinated by Nigerian movie legends Genevieve and Regina Askia. In her words:
“To be honest, I am not sure that I knew I wanted to act up until SS2. I wanted to be a lawyer at first and then I read this book by Christopher Darden, he was one of the prosecutors on the OJ Simpson’s case.”
“He just chronicled the entire case, I finished this book and I said I am not cut out to be a lawyer. First of all I do not know what I would do if I lost a case for a client and I saw the point of view of these two lawyers and how they felt about loosing the case.
“So I was like what else can I do? My plan B was that I kind of like acting, I used to watch films especially Genevieve and Regina Askia. But it was now in SS2 that I was like, I am not sure if I want to go to school to study acting just in case it does not work out for me. What else can I study?
“And I was like my plan B is to be a news anchor and that was why I studied Mass Communication. I asked my parents and they were like if I wanted to study Theater Arts, I should. But I was like just in case, let me just study Mass Com and I would try acting.”
Teniola started her career as movie production manager before moving into acting full time.
The movie star gained fame for role in ‘Jemeji’, the African Magic drama series.
She also won the Trailblazer award at the 2022 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA).