Nollywood lacks good directors — Victor Olaotan

By Kemi Lawal     

Why I left America for Nigeria
Well, I was not even intending to come home. They have this thing in the USA with taxes and I happened to run afoul of some of these rules. That was why I had to come back to Nigeria and I needed to come home because my mother had already died and I did not know that for a long time.

How I became an actor
When I was in high school, I had a literature teacher who was also an actor but not a big-time actor. So he wanted some young people on the set at Oriolokun theatre, that’s Ola Rotimi’s theatre and they wanted people who had dramatic mentality. I was the head of a club in my school in Ilesha so he selected some of us and by the time we went for the audition, I happened to be tops. That was my first professional experience in theatre.

My parents don’t even know what I am doing today. Before my mother died I am sure she thought I was an auditor because I was working for a manufacturing company in the USA.

Before I left Nigeria, I was very popular as Dotun Oluronbi. I met this producer called Laolu Ogunniyi and he introduced me to some of the works he brought from England, one of them was Candle in the Wind. He was looking for a vibrant young actor, at the time I was a footballer playing for Water Corporation in Ibadan. So when he mentioned it to me, I said I will give it a try. Later, I went for a six months course at the University of Ibadan theatre arts department, and then from there I became an employee of the department.

My Hollywood experience
On getting to America I met Jack, he was a Broadway director. I had an opportunity to become a Hollywood star but I missed it. Someone who was supposed to play my uncle in a play called Lovesick never showed up. He was a Nigerian musician, Baba Olatunji and he was the only one of African descent the producers knew to interprete the role well enough. He never turned up, I heard he came to politics in Nigeria and that was how I lost that opportunity.

Life after America
When I came back, I swore never to have anything to do again with drama because I saw a lot of my colleagues were not doing so well. Abroad, the ones who are most favoured within the society are the artistes. I ran a computer engineering firm for about six years before the audition for Tinsel came.

How I got the Tinsel job
It was a friend of mine who informed me about the Tinsel audition. I did the audition and went away. So for me to audition for a role is no big deal. I never expected to be part of Tinsel because I know all these new productions want young people. When the casting came out, it was my wife that first informed me that I am the lead cast because she was already part of Tinsel as a member of the crew.


Working with up and coming actors on the set of Tinsel

Working with those young people has been a great experience. It really wants you to look back at your time, how you have worked with those great actors. I am probably a second generation actor in Nigeria.

Working with the young ones also brings the youth out of you too because they do some things that are very peculiar. I am still young mentally, I still swim, I play tennis, I jog sometimes, and I still play football even though I have a bad knee but I still manage to hang in there.

Why I shun Nollywood
Some of the productions are good but I think what we really lack is good directors, equipment and probably enough money to do good productions. I have been approached by a few people from Nollywood and what I have come to find out is that if you are not of Igbo descent, they tend to be wary about bringing you into their productions except for the people they know they can’t push aside like Olu Jacob. They don’t really talk to you about money. When the price is right, you will see me in Nollywood movies.

My family
I was married in the USA to an American, we got divorced after 17 years. I have five kids; three boys and two girls. I remarried in 2002 to my longtime fiancée.