Popular Nollywood Actress
Bimbo Akintola in a Recent Interview with
Tunde Ajaja, Talks about her Growing up, Career and Single Status.
How did your acting career begin?
My mum told me I had always been dramatic, since I was very young.
So maybe it began from that time. She said one way or the other, I was
always involved in acting. When I was in secondary school, I was also
into dancing and at a point, I joined the choir, even though I didn’t
stay long. I don’t think any profession would have appealed to me apart
from acting. Even the other things I do, like singing, writing poems,
etc., are hobbies. Acting is one thing I’m extremely passionate about.
When I chose Theatre Arts as the course I wanted to study in University
of Ibadan, my dad didn’t understand it for a while. He just felt you
can’t make money from doing stuffs like that. He felt why not go and
study something else so I could have a degree I could fall back on. I
was a stubborn child, so I said no, I must study Theatre Arts and I did.
He finally agreed with me.
What fond memories of growing up do you still have?
Growing up was fun. My mum got married at about 17, and at 18 she
had her first child. As a young mother, she was a disciplinarian but
loving. My dad was a Customs officer and he was posted to different
places, so he only came home on weekends or fortnightly. Then, in the
evening, we would sit outside in the balcony and my mum would tell us
stories and teach us songs. And anytime she was cooking, everybody; male
or female, would have to be in the kitchen with her. While cooking she
would be singing and we had to join her as well. I was a tomboy and I
liked to climb trees and jump fences. As a result, I always had bruises
on my chin. My mum just couldn’t understand it so I was chastised every
day. Over time, she couldn’t stop me from climbing trees, because I was a
real tomboy. After a while, she got used to it.
You’ve been going to the gym a lot in recent times. What informed that move?
I go to the gym and do exercises because it helps our overall
health and helps us to look younger. But it’s about health. Now they say
the life expectancy in Nigeria is 50-plus. People die in their 40s and
50s and it’s something to be worried about. If that is not a call to
every Nigerian to live healthy, I don’t know what else can be. So, for
me, it’s all about health and not just about losing weight, looking good
or younger. If you just want to look good, you can do surgery, but for
me, it’s health, being healthy and living a healthy life. It’s
important.
Talking about living healthy; some people say you smoke. Are you considering dropping the habit, if truly you do?
If you are asking if I smoke, I don’t. It would interest you that
people who say I smoke have never seen me smoking before, yet they say
it with assurance. I don’t mind people talking about whether someone is
smoking or not, but they must have evidence. You must have evidence to
say certain things about people. If you ask me if I drink, I barely
drink now. Smoking and some other habits people engage in are not good
for the health. And I’m of the view that people who smoke should quit.
Some reports online even rank you as one of the top actresses who can’t do without smoking. Does it bother you sometimes?
I’m not bothered. Anybody can write whatever they like. And this
has been happening for the last 20 years. I have read many stories about
myself online that I don’t even know the person they are talking about.
I’m not bothered because I know who I am; my parents know who I am; my
family and friends know who I am and when people who don’t know me meet
me and have a conversation with me, they change their mind. So, I’m okay
with that. There was a time I was outside the country and some persons
wrote that I was in Ogba doing something funny. I laughed deeply. And
that was about 15 years ago. The truth of the matter is that people want
to read weird, funny stories and unfortunately, there is a huge base
for stories like that everywhere in the world. So, that is why stories
like that would never end. So, I’m not bothered.
A lot has been said about your love life and some have
said you should be married by now. Would you say the society is mounting
pressure on you as regards marriage?
I guess these questions arise because of the country we live in and
the kind of people we are. It’s also something I think we need to look
at critically, because it seems we are creating more trouble for people,
as marriages are now crashing within six months or even less. This is
partly because the society puts a lot of pressure on people to get
married. Shouldn’t we take a step backward and ask ourselves what we are
doing wrong. It’s not about how soon, but how well? I think it’s time
we realized that marriage is such a serious thing. Shouldn’t we allow
people make their choices by themselves, without pressure? Parents
should stop putting pressure on their children. Many women are divorced
now and in some cases, there is serious fight and both of them would be
fighting over the custody of the child. We need to start changing the
way we look at marriage. It’s important we get married but marry at your
own time.
You once said you love kids, and with the way people
are embracing the option of child out of wedlock, popularly called baby
mama, is it something you could do?
Of course, I can. Definitely I can do it because I don’t see
anything wrong with it. Things are changing in the world at large. If
you look around, you would find a lot of women are having babies and
taking care of themselves. It’s everywhere. There are women who are not
actors but are single mothers, and for a lot of people I think it’s
about their biological clock. Instead of waiting for manna from heaven
and you know there is no manna, and you feel the need to have children,
then do it.
But the Yoruba culture makes it look like a woman is incomplete without a man. Does that not bother you?
We have to change our thinking, due to the time. You can’t be
rooted in the past when the present and future are a totally different
place. If you look at what is going on now, there are women looking for
husband but can’t find. So would you now say because of that they
shouldn’t have children? That’s unnecessary and it’s like making them
suffer twice. I think for anybody that wants to have children, as long
as you know you are capable of taking care of them financially and
emotionally, why not.
As a good-looking woman, how often do men approach you?
(Laughs…) Every day that I go out. It’s a normal thing every day;
from younger men, to people of same age and of course older men. It’s a
regular thing. If it is not happening, you have to worry about yourself.
Because of what we do, people want to date actors.
Can you date an actor?
I’ve been in the entertainment industry for over 20 years, so there
is nobody I want to date in the industry, except such persons have not
come into the industry yet. I know everybody and there is nobody I’m
interested in dating. That is the truth. Most of them are like my
brothers, and maybe it’s because of the work, because when I’m working,
those things don’t even occur to me, so by the time work is over, I
already see you as a brother or colleague. For me, I have never been
interested in any actor. Never!
If you work closely with someone for a length of time,
are you saying you have never had feelings for any actor in the line of
duty?
Never! It has never happened to me, personally. I don’t look at
anyone except from the angle of the character the person is
representing. I could talk with the person before or after, but at that
point, you are probably entering the brother or friend zone. I’ve worked
with the finest men in the industry and I have not felt anything like
that before. I worked with RMD, and that was even when I had just
started acting. I worked with Ramsey Noah, Desmond Elliot, Emeka Ike,
Kanayo Kanayo, Fred Amata, etc. they are all like my friends and
brothers. Even the directors, like Jimi Odumosu, Lancelot Imasuen are
like my brothers. So, for me, I have never had an attraction for an
actor.
Some reports say you are in a relationship. Is it true?
I’m an actor and because of that people are curious about my life, but I like to keep certain things to myself.
When you are not on set, how do you relax?
I go out with my friends once in a while. Or when I’m not working,
I’m at home. I like staying at home, or I take my niece and nephew out
to cinema. Then, I cook a lot; I love to cook and I cook every day. So, I
don’t eat out. Cooking is amazing, and there is nothing I don’t cook,
including Nigerian, Indian, Italian, Chinese dishes, etc.
What is your favorite meal?
I don’t have favorite meal anymore. I just like good food that was
properly cooked. For me, cooking is not about the favorite, it’s about
the quality, the mixing of different ingredients to achieve a
particular taste. I’m a real proper foodie and cooking makes me
extremely happy.
