Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Award (AMVCA) 2014 Best Male Actor in a Leading Role, Tope Tedela, was on the verge of quitting acting before he was announced as one of the nominees for the award.
The mass communication graduate of the University of Lagos disclosed this during a recent interview with QED in Lagos.
He was shooting a film and, according to him, “I felt after that job, I would go back to maybe writing or journalism.”
Announcement of the nominations however made him perish the thought.
His moment of glory came on May 8 at the AMVCA finale held in Lagos. He shone like a million stars as he emerged the shock winner in a category that also had Juma Rajab Rashid, Majid Michel and Hlomla Dandala in contention.
Kissing Nollywood goodbye became an option for the young man who was later also nominated as Best Male Actor in a Leading for the Africa Movie Academy Award 2014 which held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa on May 24, “because even where you got the roles, it wasn’t as if it was paying the bills.”
His frustration is best captured in the words: “It was really tough that I thought I was wasting my life away. I had all that thought in my mind until the nomination came.”
Going back to a desk job would have been a return to what he left back in 2011 to devote his career to fulltime acting.
Things went on the upward swing after he won the AMVCA for his standout role in Eric Aghimien’s “A Mile from Home”. His portrayal of lala, a repentant member of a killer campus secret cult, has been adjudged as one of the best by someone relatively unknown outside the Nollywood circuit.
He is not putting all his eggs in one basket though. Tedela now reads up on businesses, especially in the area of entrepreneurship. With the success that is sure to come his way in front of the camera, he disclosed to QED that “I will still be acting but I will put my energy in more things.”
On missing out on the AMAA gong, he said: “I have always maintained that the recognition by way of a nomination has really been a huge source of encouragement. I am indeed grateful for where I am and I’m happy for the amazing actor who clinched the award.”
