Nollywood actor Kunle Afolayan turned 48 today, September 30, 2022, and actress Bimbo Ademoye joined the rest of her coworkers in wishing him a happy birthday.
Bimbo Ademoye describes Afolayan as a living legend who has had a profoundly positive impact on her life in a post on her verified Instagram page.
“Happy birthday to a living legend, an icon. Thank you for the gift of you. Thank you for who you are to all of us. Thank you for the gift of arolake , for the gift Saro and the gift of Anikulapo and a whole lot. It is your day today . Congratulations sir, I hope you have a day as amazing as you are. @kunleafo,” she captioned her post.
Kunle previously revealed in an interview that his late father, Adeyemi Afolayan, discouraged him and his siblings from acting or making films.
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 world of make-believe because they didn’t have a reliable source of income.
He said, “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.
He further said, “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,” he added.