Inspired
Funke Akindele’s First Fives: Celebrity Crush, First Audition, ₦1B Box Office & More
Funke Akindele takes us back to the early hustle! She shares five personal firsts, from her celebrity crush and first day on set to her first audition, first meal and first billion-naira box-office milestone.
Funke Akindele in a navy blue beaded dress, featured in her First Fives sit-down. Photo Credit: Funke Akindele/Instagram
What was Funke Akindele like before the record-breaking box-office runs, hit films, and non-stop production schedules?
Long before becoming a household name, she had her own celebrity crushes, suffered extreme nerves on her very first film set, and endured long audition queues in Surulere—arriving in a non-air-conditioned Peugeot 504. While the box-office powerhouse has been in the entertainment industry long enough to fill a library of stories, some of her best moments lie in the small, early details.
During a recent studio sit-down with the box-office powerhouse, we covered a lot of ground—from her latest milestones to her upcoming film, The Four. But some of our favourite moments came when we asked her to share five memorable ‘firsts’ from her career.
Here are five revealing firsts Funke Akindele shared with us:
Funke Akindele posing in a custom puff-sleeve ensemble and high braided hairstyle for her film The Four: No One Fights Alone.
Her First Celebrity Crush
Long before she became a household name, her very first celebrity crush was American singer Robin Thicke. Singing a snippet of his hit track Lost Without You, she admitted with a laugh, “He’s so handsome..”
Her First Day on Set
Facing the camera for the very first time was a nervous experience on the set of the Opa Williams film Naked Wire, alongside Kate Henshaw and Ebun Oloyede. Tasked with delivering a line to Kate, anxiety quickly set in. “I was so jittery, I was scared, oh my God, anxiety” she remembered. “Ebun Oloyede told me to tell Kate Henshaw that he’s in love with her. And I was shaking and shaking. Kate just pulled me close: ‘Come, what’s your name?’ I said, ‘Funke, ma.’ ‘Calm down, you can do it, okay? Don’t worry, just say it.’ And I did it, it was beautiful.”
Her First Meal of the Day
Her morning routine these days centres strictly on her wellness goals. When asked about her first meal of the day, she revealed, “Electrolytes with water… I’m trying to lose weight.”
Funke Akindele wears a navy blue beaded gown, featured alongside her First Fives career interview. Photo Credit: Funke Akindele/Instagram
Her First Billion Naira
Reflecting on the milestone of hitting the one-billion-Naira mark at the cinema box office, she broke down the reality behind the headline figures. “1 billion! That 1 billion is for the paper. They didn’t give me the 1 billion because cinema took their own, everybody took their own, so I went home with some money. But billion, ah! It was fun, it was good, for my hard work,” she explained.
Her First Film Audition
Her entry into the industry started with a long family trip to Surulere in her mother’s Peugeot 504 alongside her elder sister, Ayo. “My mum, she was the one always driving us to auditions… we didn’t have an air conditioner, so we were always winding down the windows,” she shared. Upon arriving at Eko Reels Film, the long wait tested her sister’s patience, leading her to head back to the car. Funke, however, stayed behind until nightfall. “I waited till night. So we were waiting to see our names on the list. I no see my name there oh, na waka pass I see oh, but it was fun. I’m happy I experienced it.”
If you think reading this sounds fun, wait till you watch her below
View this post on Instagram
