Veteran Nollywood actor, Victor Olaotan, shares some of his life experiences with Ademola Olonilua
Why did you choose to become an actor?
I would rather say that the acting profession chose me. When I was in school, I was involved in a lot of activities. I was the leader of the Scripture Union so I could have become a pastor but there was a teacher in my school, Mr. Adegoke, who was also an actor at the time. He was with the best professional group at that time which was the Ori Olokun Theatre of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). Professor Ola Rotimi featured him in virtually all his plays. He encouraged me to become an actor because I used to represent Ife/Ijesha division in poems and performing acts. One day he came to school after I had demonstrated my skills as an actor and he chose me to be one of the people who would audition as member of the crowd in a play by Ola Rotimi tittled ‘the gods are not to blame.’ During the play, there was a line one of us was meant to say and I was chosen for the role because I was known to have a very good diction and I said it very well. That was how I became one of the very few young men who cut their teeth in the profession then. When I saw the level of professionalism and perfection that was put into the stage plays, I told myself I had to become an actor. Although I was a science student in school and my father used to call me the professor; I thought I was going to become a professor. I could have also become a professor in theatre arts because I did some courses in the field when I was in America. I had it in mind that I wanted to become an actor but it was not my primary focus because I was a sports man too. I was sprinting for my school and very good on the on the track and field. I played football for the Western State Academicals two years in a row.
Do you think if you had pursued a career in football you would have become an icon?
I probably would have become an icon but at the time there were problems in the team that I was playing for. There were some senior teammates that were not happy that I was put in the first team shortly after I joined. From what I heard many years later, they took my name to various herbalist shrines and told them to make me confused anytime I was playing. I heard this almost 20 years after I left. It is not their charms that worked; it is destiny that made me quit football for acting. But if I were not an actor I am very sure I would have become a legendary footballer.
How did you become the president of the Scripture Union being someone with a background in the Catholic faith?
I attended a Catholic primary school, then I went ahead to attend SS Peter & Paul which was its secondary school but my mother withdrew me from the school to St. Gregory’s College. When my father died, I was transferred to Ilesha, Osun State. My stint with the Catholic faith was when I was much younger.
We also learnt that you became a Muslim for a while. What influenced the change of religion?
I became a Muslim when I was in America. My grandparents were Muslims and I wanted to find out what Islam was all about. I took the shahada and I practised it devoutly for 10 years.
Why did you switch back to Christianity?
When I got back to Nigeria, I found out that I could not be a Muslim in this land because the way they practised it was different from what I learnt. The Islam in Nigeria is not for me.
We learnt that your father had three wives and about 20 children. What was it like growing up in such an environment?
It was very communal. It never mattered who your mother was because we all played, ate, and even fought together. We did everything together until we became grown up. It was after my father died that we knew that we did not all have the same mother.
What was it like being the son of a police officer?
He was a senior officer, so we never lived in the barracks. My father was taller than all of us and we all respected him. My mother also worked briefly as a nurse in the police force before she went back to the general hospital. There was no special feeling being a policeman’s son only that whenever there was a little problem, my father would bring out his revolver.
We learnt you were one of the favourite children in the house. Were you shown preferential treatment?
It was my mother that made me the favourite. Then my father loved me because I was very brilliant in school. I did not feel anything special. It was when I became old that I realised that there was something special about it.
What led to your father’s death?
My father was old and he died at the age of 75. He had a little malaria, they took him to the hospital and he died.
Do you think your father’s dream for you becoming a medical doctor would have been achieved if he were alive?
If my father were alive, I would have gone to medical school and still become an actor. Even if I trained as a doctor, I still would have acted.
How was it growing up as a child?
I was not a quiet child. I have an unassuming nature but I was rascally. I went out to watch films a lot and would come back in the midnight. By then, my parents would be on the edge. Sometimes my mother would have to pick me at a cinema in the middle of the night. I gave my mother a lot of headaches and because of that, I had to be sent to school in the village. When they sent me to school in the village, I was very angry. My parents thought I probably might turn out to become an area boy if they left me in Lagos. I thank God that they kept a close eye on me.
As a Lagos boy, how did you cope when you were sent to the village?
It was not really a village but a town, I was sent to Ilesha and I stayed with my uncle who worked for the local government. I cried for a year because as a Lagos boy, I used to go swimming at King George V Park. I played football in Race Course (now TBS); I used to do so many things. I felt terrible when I found myself in the village all of a sudden and the only companion I had were the chirping birds on the trees and the big forest. When my mother came to visit me, I ran away from her and told her never to talk me again in her life. My mother started crying and eventually when we reconciled, she said it was for my good. She said I was becoming too problematic in Lagos. But I later felt at home when I realised that most of my classmates in Ilesa were from Lagos.
You started acting at age 15. Were you not exposed to various vices like smoking and drinking alcohol as a teenager?
At that time, there was dignity in the business and people did not venture into it to make money. Most people that were performers in those days believed in the business. They also liked the glamour and fame that it brought their way but there was no money. Of course, there were people that smoked Indian hemp then, they would not even let you join them. Instead, they would tell you to go and face your studies. There was guidance during that time and as a young man, they would direct you and tell you the truth about life unlike now where everybody is hustling to feed themselves and don’t care about the youths.
Back then, weren’t you ashamed to be an actor?
I have never been ashamed of being an actor because I was lucky to have learnt from the source. Then to be an actor, you had to be able to speak English fluently and eloquently unlike now when we have a lot of actors who cannot speak English very well. The most prominent theatre then was the Yoruba travelling theatres while the English-speaking theatre was exclusive to a few people. For you to be a part of the English theatre, it meant that you were very good in literature and English and you had a good diction. I did not feel ashamed; instead I felt proud to belong to that class.
All through your career which spans over three decades, was there a time you felt like quitting?
Yes. In 2002 when I came back to Nigeria, I saw a lot of my colleagues and they were not looking well because actors were not well paid. I did not want to go back to that kind of life, so my cousin and I started a computer training school. I believed that would be my career until some veteran actors came together during a festival and said they wanted to do a play. The play involved a lot of old-timers and I was contacted. It was written by Wale Ogunyemi, The Divorce, and I had always wanted to be a part of the play. In fact, any play that Jimi Solanke was a part of, I always wanted to be there because he is my idol. I was gunning for a particular lead role but I did not get it. Instead, I was given another one and I played the character, Godgift, who is a houseboy. I normally don’t play such roles but I did it very well and my colleagues commended me. They kept saying they did not know I still had it in me. That was my baptism back into the entertainment industry.
Why did you travel to America?
At that time, every young man’s dream was to go to America. Also, every book I read on theatre was about Hollywood, so I felt that if I wanted to get the best, I had to go to the source. Every entertainer’s dream was to visit America, even if it was out of the curiousity. I found my way to America by destiny because it was even the government that paid for my trip abroad. I was lucky to be one of eight artistes that were selected in Nigeria to support President Shehu Shagari who was having a meeting with Ronald Regan. I had a diplomatic visa as a representative of Nigeria and I had fun.
We learnt that Ronald Regan gave you a presidential medal. What was it for?
I don’t know where that medal is today but I felt very honoured to have had it. It is very significant because it can be compared to President Jonathan conferring someone with a national honour. It was given to us because we came with the president and we were representatives of the Nigerian government. We were actually superstars and we were signing autographs anywhere we performed. We performed on Broadway and there are not many actors in Nigeria today that can say they have performed on Broadway. I am lucky to be one Nigerian that has performed on Broadway and it was one of the highlights of my career. A lot of American actors have not performed on Broadway, so to make it that far is a big deal in America and I am happy that by representing the Nigerian government, I was able to achieve such feat at La MaMa Theatre.
How was the experience?
It was like a dream. When we first got into the US, we were looking around like people who were lost, we were looking like ‘bush people.’ Everything was magical and when we performed and the people rushed to meet us with pieces of paper, we did not know what they wanted. We just knew that they bombarded us and one of my senior colleagues, Tunji Oyelana, told me to sign on the paper. It was through him I knew that all they wanted was our autographs. They kept bringing the paper and I kept signing on them and that was my first experience as a star.
Why did you decide to further your studies when you were abroad?
After travelling with the president, I came back home because I was a producer at Nigerian Television Authority, Ibadan but I went back about nine months later to go to school. I had a friend then who was schooling at Rutgers University and when I read about the school, I realised it was a good school. It became my dream to also attend the school and I eventually did.
You got a job with a perfume company and subsequently you joined a car manufacturing company where you were earning as much as $120,000 per annum. How was life then?
Like Nigerians would say, I was a big boy. I had seven cars, three homes and I lived in a condominium. I bought the most expensive clothes and I had shoes that cost as much as a thousand dollars. I had expensive suits. I was living large; I had three BMW cars, Peugeot, among others. I was living very well and I went to concerts and operas. To go to opera would cost about $200 and at that time, an average weekly pay was $150. So, to go and watch opera meant that you belonged to the upper echelon of the society. I lived very well at the time.
We learnt that women flocked around you…
It is often said that what depicts success is when you are young, handsome and rich. A lot of women look for that. For security reasons, they want a man that can take care of them and it is always a plus if he is young. I was in that category and the ladies were always around me at that time. I had girlfriends; I dated white ladies and African Americans too. I eventually got married to an African American for about 17 years and we divorced in 1998. When I got home, I met my long time sweetheart whom I got married to and we are together till date.
We learnt that after living like a big man abroad, you came back to Nigeria with only $100 in your pocket. What happened?
It is a story I don’t like telling. I had issues with the Internal Revenue Service over my tax and I had to leave America in a hurry. Whatever I had then, I spent trying to defend myself and by the time I was coming home, I used all the money I had on me to bribe my way back to Nigeria. I had to travel with a certificate. It is a story I don’t like telling, I have told it enough.
Was that period a dark moment in your life?
It was one of the darkest moments of my life. Also coming home to find out that my mother was dead was one of the saddest moments in my life. She died some months before I came home.
What led to your divorce with your African American wife?
My uncle was very angry with me when I told him about the divorce. My wife did not have a child and I was a young man that wanted children. I waited for about 10 years only for us to discover that she had a problem because her father had done something to her. When she was younger, she got pregnant and he kicked her in the stomach and in the process, her womb got damaged. I could not continue to ‘waste’ my life. By the time we were divorced, I was in my forties and when I came back to Nigeria, I was fifty years old. So I got married to my current wife who was also of age. I met her when she was about 20 years old and by the time we got married, she was 35 years old. We have three children today.
Was she also single when you met her again?
Yes she was and I was surprised to find out that she was single. Shortly after my divorce, we began dating and I always told her that I was going to get married to her but she didn’t believe it. Unfortunately, we lost contact for about eight years. I believed she had moved on. When I came back home, one of her siblings saw me and told me that she was still single and living in the same apartment she used to back when we were together. So I went to pay her a surprise visit. When we began dating, she told me that since we separated, she had promised herself that she would never date anybody again except she was sure he was going to be her husband. She became a born again Christian and a celibate. She said that she did not care if she met her husband when she was 60 years old. We dated for about six months before we got married.
How were you able to rekindle the love when you got married?
If we had serious issues when we separated, getting back together might have been difficult for us but we were in love when I lost her contact. When I saw her again, she was still looking very good and I still liked her, so it was like falling in love all over again. I did not ‘touch’ her till we got married and after the wedding, I was too happy that I got married to her and we did not get intimate till after about two weeks. The relationship became very religious at a point and we dealt with each other in a civil way. Our relationship became more mature and I thank God for that.
Why do you believe you were destined to get married to her?
It is because if you have lost contact with somebody for so long and all of a sudden, you meet the person single, that’s not coincidental at all. It was coincidence I could have met her in a bus while travelling but somebody came to tell me about her. People thought I would not get married again but I wanted to. I had two children from previous relationships but I wanted at least three children in my life. I needed a wife to bear me children because I did not want to have children outside wedlock.
How is the relationship between you and the other two children?
We talk but they are typical American children. They don’t even feel obliged to come to my country. They call Nigeria my country. If they decide not to come, I will not fault them because there are a lot of things wrong with Nigeria and people that live in civil societies will find it difficult to survive here. I would not mind if they come to pay me a visit but with the stories they hear about terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery, it might discourage them. So I don’t blame them if they do not come.
How was the experience working with Wole Soyinka when you were in the University of Ibadan?
He is a very strict man and western in his ways when it comes to his profession. Ironically he is a very deep rooted Yoruba man. Working with him was easy for me because he is a perfectionist. I got into trouble with him because he hates people coming late for rehearsals and when I came late, he got very angry. He would sanction anyone for lateness. I remember an occasion where we were meant to travel to Antigua for a performance. We were in Ife but I dashed down to Ibadan because I wanted to collect some money from someone. I got to the rehearsals late and he made sure that I was not part of those people that would travel with them. Eventually the trip was cancelled, so I did not feel it.
You were not angry with him for that?
No I was not. He is my father in the profession and anytime I see him, we greet each other. I admire and respect him. I saw him last year.
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