Yoruba Nollywood actor Amuda Eko has opened up about the painful and humiliating experiences that marked his early days in the industry. Speaking on the AfricanAList podcast, the actor, filmmaker and producer detailed how he endured menial jobs, family rejection and extreme hardship while chasing his dream.
Born Akintunde Yusuf Olatunji on January 18, 1980, in Isale Eko, Lagos, Amuda Eko left his tailoring shop to pursue acting full-time. The decision came at a heavy cost. With no steady income, he took on a porter job that involved offloading cartons of cigarettes just to survive.
“I started a porter job, so I began to offload cigarettes, bringing in little money. The money wasn’t enough,” he said.
One of the lowest points involved a desperate attempt to board a commercial bus without paying. After a scuffle with the driver and conductor, the men mistakenly believed he was injured and gathered money for him to treat himself.
“That was how the driver and conductor gathered money for me to go treat myself. I saw the money and said, ‘This is money.’ I told them to go, put the money in my pocket and jumped into another bus.”
Family support was equally scarce. His grandmother strongly opposed the career switch and delivered crushing criticism after watching his first film appearance as a silent policeman.
“Is this the rubbish and unfortunate thing that made you leave your tailoring shop? Look at this unfortunate boy. You only acted as a policeman, and you didn’t even say a word. Is this what you’ve been doing?” she asked.
Determined to prove himself, Amuda Eko begged filmmakers for a speaking role in his next production. They eventually allowed him to say just one word: “Goodnight.” He bought the movie and showed it to his grandmother, hoping for recognition.
“Alhaja, didn’t you see me?” he asked.
When she finally realized it was him, her response remained dismissive.
“So this is the movie you acted in? You are the one that said ‘Goodnight?’ Is that why you abandoned your shop for months just to say one word? Goodnight? What exactly can you show for it?”
She then added,
“We’ll both wait and see.”
The repeated rejection hardened his resolve rather than breaking him.
“I was beginning to get tired, wondering what I really wanted to do. But my mind became hardened. I told myself I would keep going. If this job is making other people money, it will also make money for me. If it brings wealth to others, it will bring wealth to me too. So, I buckled up, became consistent and kept pushing.”
Today, Amuda Eko is an established name in Yoruba cinema as an actor, director, producer, fashion designer, MC and comedian. His story of survival, from offloading cigarettes and enduring family scorn to building a solid career, stands as a powerful reminder of the resilience required to succeed in the Nigerian entertainment industry.