Movies & TV
Teniola Aladese is Our First Feature for this Year’s #BNMeetTheStar
Last year, we spoke with Nollywood stars like Adeoluwa Akintoba, Kayode Jnr Ojuolape, Ruby Akubueze, Uzoamaka Onuaha, and Chimezie Imo. You can read them here, in case you missed it.
For our first feature for the 2024 edition of “Meet the Star,” a segment dedicated to spotlighting emerging talents in Nollywood, Teniola Aladese talks about her career in the film industry, her roles in Nollywood titles like “Lara of Lagos,” “Love in a Pandemic,” “Little Black Book,” and shares how she manages her mental health.
***
Hello there, Teniola. It’s so lovely speaking with you. How are you doing?
Hi BN, I’m doing great. It’s been a great start to the year. I’m working, and I’m always thankful for work.
What’s 2024 looking like for you?
2024 is looking pretty good. I have a couple of projects that are out this year, and I’m excited about them. I’m also currently on set for a production that I can’t speak about just yet, but I’m excited to be on this project, especially because of the filmmaker. I’ve been a huge fan of the filmmaker for years, and at the beginning of 2023, it was on my petition to God to work with this filmmaker, and it’s finally happening. So yeah, I’m thankful for that. So 2024 is looking good already, and I’m thankful to God for that.
Before delving into your acting journey, I’d love to know what it was that brought you closer to the field of entertainment. Was it something that you wanted to pursue from an early stage of your life, or did this field spark your interest during a later phase?
First of all, a number of the people in my family are creative. My father was an advertising executive, and my sister was a writer. I grew up watching and loving films. My dad used to travel and bring back dubbed tapes of films and commercials from the US, UK, and all over the world. We would sit and watch commercials and movies in my house. The first film I vividly remember watching, and I still watch every year if I’m being honest, is “Joel” by Steven Spielberg. I was young when I watched it, but I watch it every single year. Also, Nollywood films that had people like Genevieve Nnaji and Regina Askia-Williams inspired me when I was growing up. I watched films about them, and I thought they were doing amazing. It wasn’t until SS2 or SS3 that I realised that acting looked like a career that I wanted to go into. I want to bring character to life.
Originally, I wanted to be a lawyer, but I read the book, “In Contempt,” by Christopher Darden in secondary school, where he was a prosecutor in the OJ Simpson case, and he chronicled his experience of being on the case in that book. The book belonged to my dad, and after reading it and seeing what it did to the lead prosecutor in that case, losing the case, and how it impacted their lives, I realised that I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a lawyer anymore. Acting came along. As an option B, I also loved watching news anchors. I grew up watching people like Jiire Kola Kuforiji on AIT, and I loved watching her read the news. If acting didn’t work, my plan B would be to be a news anchor. Instead of theatre arts, I ended up studying mass communications in case acting didn’t work. My sister is a writer, and we have a bag of books that she used to write in secondary school and university, I would read those books, and I was amused. There’s a lot of creativity in my family, and I think that’s where it all started.
View this post on Instagram
You’ve worked on a couple of projects, from playing ‘Lara’ in “Lara of Lagos,” starring in ‘Ricordi, “Love in a Pandemic,” which was nominated at the 2023 AMVCA, ‘Little ‘Black Book,’ ‘Domitilla The Reboot,’ ‘Soole, and many other wonderful projects. Which character would you say has resonated with your real self the most?
I can’t say there’s a particular character that I can point to that encompasses the entirety of my real self or me as an individual. What I would say is that certain characters may mirror certain aspects of me, but not the entire character by itself. There are some characters that I play that I’ve played that may be goofy or playful, and I’m usually like that. That’s the kind of person for whom I can be very serious, but I’m also very goofy and playful.
Sometimes I lend that to characters that are supposed to be goofy and playful. I don’t think there’s a specific one that completely encompasses who I am as a person. I just lend certain traits from myself to characters that have similar traits. Yeah.
What do you think has prepared you for your success so far? And what do you think you need more of to continue succeeding?
I think that my background in production, my background behind the scenes, has played a very crucial role in my success so far and in the kind of person that I am. I started my career as an intern at Tinsel. I believe it was either 2011 or 2012. And then I started my production career in 2013, as a production assistant, and I grew through the ranks as a production assistant from being a production assistant to being a production assistant to being a production coordinator, to being a production manager, and then to being a producer. I think that being behind the scenes and seeing how things work, seeing that you are a small part of a really big engine where the entire engine can’t work without certain parts, it’s just little moving parts that make the entire engine work. That taught me a lot of patience. I know some people speak about me as an actor now and how it’s spoken about how I can be very patient on set when there are long hours. I think what helped me with that was just being behind the scenes and seeing that different things happen in production.
View this post on Instagram
Things are planned, but things can go south at the last minute. I can be on set as an actor for 10 hours; maybe I’m given a call time of, say, 7 a.m., and I don’t film till 4 p.m. I’ve been in a position where I’m the producer on set or the production manager on set. We had planned to film this scene at 8 a.m., but something went wrong at the last minute, and it’s not necessarily anyone’s fault. I’ve been behind the scenes, and I’ve come to understand that over the years. Now, as an actor, not to say it doesn’t get to me; sometimes it can be annoying, but it doesn’t bother me as much. I tend to understand that sometimes things just happen. I think that what has helped me is being behind the scenes, growing through the ranks and behind the scenes, and understanding how filmmaking works. Understanding how filmmaking works behind the scenes has helped me to be a better actor, has helped me to be a more patient human, and has helped me understand the importance of teamwork.
Action, comedy, romance, or thriller—which genre do you prefer and why?
This is a tricky one. There are two answers to that. It depends on exactly what you’re asking. What genre do I prefer to watch? It’s a psychological thriller. I love a good psychological thriller. When I have a free day, I just really want to chill and enjoy my day. Either I put on a psychological thriller or a good rom-com. But most of the time, it also depends on the time of day. But most of the time, if it’s in the afternoon, it’s a good psychological thriller. If you’re asking, what genre do I like to play in as an actor?
I’ve done a few dramas, but I love rom-coms. I like watching rom-coms, but I also really love to play characters in rom-coms. I would also love to take more action. I haven’t done comedy a lot per se. I haven’t done that much in comedy. It’s something that I would also like to delve into. I would love to do all these genres, but I love a good rom-com.
I love it when I get the script for a good rom-com and I’m just like, yeah, I can see how this all plays out. I can see how these characters fall in love. I can see how this happens, and this happens, and I can’t wait to bring this character to life.
View this post on Instagram
Besides acting, you have also stepped into the fields of producing and casting. How has your experience been with producing and getting more creative control over your projects?
Right now, I do not yet have projects of my own. I’ve only produced for other people. I’ve only managed productions for other people, but I haven’t produced or executive produced for myself. I’ve experienced quite a lot in the industry and production. And I know that I’ve garnered such great experience. I’ve gathered ammunition for when I do produce independently or executive produce my projects. And that’s coming pretty soon. I have plans for that. I believe that my experience producing for other people and learning and growing through the ranks over the years has helped me to understand what it takes.
Which of your past acting experiences would you say was the toughest one, and that tested your abilities?
I think that every character comes with its challenges. But there are two characters that I would say did a number on me. The first one that I would mention is that the film is not out yet, but we shot it about two years ago. It’s a film by director Akay Mason, the director of “Elevator Baby,” “Love in a Pandemic,” and “Superstar.” I play this character who has a stutter; she stammers. And before I took on this character, I had to do my research. I had to watch tonnes of videos and documentaries about people who are living with a stutter. And it did a number on me in the sense that, first of all, I remember watching videos and documentaries and, to be honest, crying, seeing people’s experiences, and then living with a stutter trying to get words out. I remember watching this guy; he went to a correctional school to correct speech impediments. I remember everyone in the class was supposed to walk up to the front of the room and introduce themselves. It took him—that’s the thing—that no matter how long it takes you, they will be like, Yeah, just introduce yourself and tell us who you are, no matter how long it takes. It took him about seven minutes to get the words out. It took him about seven minutes to just say what his name was, his age, what he did for a living, why he was there, and what he hoped to achieve by the end of the course. That just showed me an entire sight of life that I hadn’t imagined. I had not imagined what people living with a stutter were going through. That made me empathise with them. Number one, but because of all this research that I was doing, I was able to take on this character with a bit more confidence. I remember, every day after filming, I would be exhausted. I would be exhausted because it takes a lot of muscle contractions and your tummy contracting, trying to get words out and stuttering. I was doing that in multiple scenes in multiple takes every single day, and when I wrapped and got home, I was just tired. My entire body was tired. I had a headache from doing that. And I’m like, if this is happening and I’m just doing this for a couple of days of shoots, how do people who are living with a stutter do it? That’s just what used to go through my mind every day. I think that that character taught me a lot. It also really challenged me a lot. I’m excited to see what the film looks like because it isn’t out yet. It was challenging to do that every day to take on that character. I’m so thankful for the opportunity.
View this post on Instagram
Also, another character that I played that was somewhat challenging was quite several years ago. I think in 2019, I played a character called Folashade FK Kuku in Africa Magic’s “Unbroken,” and she was the villain. I enjoyed playing that character. I enjoy playing that character a little too much. She was the villain, and I just loved playing her. She was the femme fatale. She was a seductress. She was a blogger—a blogger who was just messing with people’s lives. But she had her own justification because she was trying to avenge the wrongs that she thought had been done to her father. And I played this character for nine months. And it was challenging to take up because, at first, I didn’t like her on paper. I didn’t like her, but I had to find the justification for everything that she was doing. And I finally did, and I enjoyed it so much. But also, there were certain things that I picked up while playing this character that were difficult to shed off because, when you’re filming for nine months, you take a certain character and take on certain traits that the character has or certain things that the character would do. I even remember there was something that this character used to do quite often, and I remember reading after this that, during the COVID lockdown, I had been sent a script to do a self-tape for another character for a certain character, and because I had just come off of playing this character for a long time, I found myself in the self-tape as I was auditioning, doing this thing that this character Folashade FK Kuku would do. And I had to catch myself and be like, No, no, no, Teniola, wake up, wake up. This is not this character. That’s a completely different character.
View this post on Instagram
How do you manage your mental health as you step further and further into the spotlight? What keeps you balanced and clear-minded?
I have a lot of anxiety. I’ve admitted that to several people, and even on my social media, people don’t expect it, but quite a few creatives and entertainers suffer from anxiety. I’m one of them; I get very anxious about twice the number of things, especially when work is just starting or if I’m getting on a new project. I’m anxious for the first couple of days. I don’t know what to expect. There are many reasons. But I try to calm myself down as much as possible. I also try to take as much time as I need by myself. Because in this industry, we’re constantly surrounded by people who are constantly surrounded by other artists, other entertainers, or other filmmakers, actors, or actresses constantly being on set, you have to take the time out to be by yourself, first of all, to remind yourself of who you are, because you’re taking on different characters every day, characters that are not your own and that are far from your character as an individual. You have to take the time out to be by yourself, to be with yourself, and to just let yourself be, if I’m being very honest. What I do is, sometimes I feel the need to take time off social media. I take social media breaks quite a lot. My friends know this quite a bit. It’s just that sometimes I’m not in the mood to engage with people. Sometimes I just want to be by myself with my thoughts, without other people’s thoughts or judgements on certain situations clouding my judgements or opinions.
I usually love taking walks to clear my head and just to see people. I love studying people. I would take walks and just study people; look at what they’re doing, their mannerisms, and how they act. I find that being by myself helps me to remain sane. I love being with my friends; we plan hangouts all the time; we hang out, plan, go out, and eat. But I also realised that being by myself is sometimes just what I need. Being by myself is needed to stay sane. Just away from everybody’s opinions, away from everybody’s judgements, and away from everybody. Be by yourself, give yourself time to think, give yourself the space to just do things by yourself, do things by yourself, go out and eat by yourself, go out to dinner by yourself, go to lunch by yourself, go to the movies by yourself, do things by yourself. I go to the beach all the time by myself, and I go with my friends as well. But I go to the beach all the time by myself. I love going to the beach. Sometimes I go to the beach to study my scripts, but other times I just go and sit by the beach. Sometimes I sleep by the beach because of the calm waves and the breeze. But yeah, just take the time to be by yourself. But also create a tribe that loves and supports you. That tribe can consist of family or friends. I have a tribe that supports each other so much. We love each other, we root for each other, and we support each other. We are there for each other when anyone needs help. And that’s such a beautiful thing to have in this industry—a tribe that understands you, your choices, and where you’re coming from—and will hold you accountable for the dreams that you have for yourself.
View this post on Instagram
What were some of the biggest lessons your journey has taught you?
The biggest lesson my journey has taught me is to remember who I am. It’s to always remember who I am. It’s to not try to be like somebody else. It’s important to remember that everybody’s journey is not the same. We didn’t all start at the same time. We are now going to the same destination. So it’s just to remember that your journey is not the same as anybody else’s. The destination is not the same. Don’t compare your life or your career to somebody else’s. Somebody is shooting blockbusters and making great films. It’s okay to be happy for that person. Just because you haven’t done it on your own doesn’t mean you’re on time. It’s okay to be.
It’s okay to be excited for people’s blessings and for people’s trajectories in this industry. It’s okay to be excited and to root for people and their successes. It doesn’t lessen your achievements. Be excited for other people. It’s okay to be excited for them. Your own time will come. There’s no point in comparing. If I’m being very honest, there’s no point in comparing. Everybody’s journey is not the same.
That’s something that I’ve understood over the years. It’s easy. I know that sometimes envy tries to creep in, but it’s a constant reminder. You have to constantly remind yourself that it’s working out if it can happen for this person. Ah, my own time is coming. If it can happen for her, if she’s doing this great, if we started how many years ago, back then, we started out going for auditions together. She won’t be blowing up now. She’s making films. She’s doing this. Be happy for that person, and just know that it will be an inspiration for you. If it can happen for this person, there’s hope for me. I’ve understood that over the years, and it’s something that I live by.
What are you currently watching or reading?
Unfortunately, I haven’t read a lot in the last year. I told myself that I would change this year because it is quite sad and embarrassing. In the whole of 2023, I only read 2 books, but because of time and work, it’s just been a bit of a slippery slope. I’m currently watching Tyler Perry’s “Sistas” and the reruns of “Being Mary Jane,” and “Girlfriends.”
