Bold, beautiful and articulate, Damilola Oni is a fast-rising actress and movie producer. With almost a decade-long experience in the make-believe business, the top-heavy actress says her journey in the movie world has just begun. In this interview, she speaks about her plans with SEGUN ADEBAYO
Looking back at the journey you have had and the future you intend to build for yourself, what do you think you need to do to stay in the limelight?
I think what brought me here is strong enough to keep me relevant. Work, prayers and not giving up on myself brought me here; so, as long as I am doing that and I am getting better at it, I will be fine. This time, I just have to be strategic with the work I do and put myself out there the more for people to know that there is one Damilola Oni and this is what she does for a living – acting. So, I intend to work more with producers who have built a name for themselves as worthy and valuable. The plan is to push the name further.
Mr Macaroni has been my friend for about seven years now or more. He’s a wonderful person whom I met through a friend and I also met Jide Awobona through Debo as well. He’s one person that is selfless and very reliable. He’s one person that does not judge; he puts aside sentiments and sees you first as a human being. That is why I prefer to talk to him more than any other person and I like him a lot.
Mr Macaroni has been my friend for about seven years now or more. He’s a wonderful person whom I met through a friend and I also met Jide Awobona through Debo as well. He’s one person that is selfless and very reliable. He’s one person that does not judge; he puts aside sentiments and sees you first as a human being. That is why I prefer to talk to him more than any other person and I like him a lot.
Which would you rather do? A skit or real movie?
I would love to do a real movie of course. Though skit-making has become an industry on its own now and it’s a good thing that we are seeing how the lockdown and other factors gave birth to the rise of skit-making and to make it a big industry. If I am invited to be a part of any skit, I will not hesitate but I will choose a real movie over skits.
People say being top-heavy is your selling point; is this true?
I don’t even know what it means to be top-heavy but, of course, everybody has their own personality and selling point. So, I guess, having an attractive body makes me an attraction, so I can call it a selling point because of the social media world. Then the opposite sex has a photo chromic memory; that they would rather dwell on what they see than any other thing. So going by your words, being top-heavy is a big selling point for me.
The industry is peopled by different characters and people with diverse backgrounds; how do you try to be different?
Damilola Oni is different and from a different background. Way back, I have noticed that we don’t try to embrace what is ours. Intentionally, I studied Linguistics in Yoruba language at the University of Ibadan and I had my Master’s degree in Indigenous Knowledge and Development, also leaning towards that path of culture, tradition and to embrace originality. When it comes to language, if I am speaking Yoruba language, I speak the deep Yoruba language and when I am speaking English too, (I speak) as a linguist. I am lucky to be able to speak effectively in English Language. I think that is one thing that has differentiated me from any other person in the industry.
Does it bother you that the Yoruba movie industry does not pay its practitioners well enough, compared to what obtains in other climes?
Before now, it used to bother me that the Yoruba movie industry doesn’t pay well, but when I studied the market and environs and when I became a producer myself, I saw how difficult it is. It opened my eyes to a lot of things; it is actually pretty difficult to pay hugely. I give kudos to whoever is making movies right now and inviting actors to pay them reasonably. This is not to say that it is very terrible but this is to say that when you check the market, you see the value you take to the market and what they offer you, you will see that it is ridiculous. Then this thing goes way back, because we have, by ourselves, maligned one another. We’ve heard and seen cases whereby somebody will go to somebody to say with this small money you can produce this movie. The producer will reach out to some of his friends whom he has gained their trust over time that he wants to produce a movie and they would come to honour the person out of respect.
