Nollywood actor and filmmaker Femi Adebayo has said financial prospects and his passion for entertainment influenced his decision to leave legal practice and pursue acting full-time in 2005.
The actor was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2003, but his interest in acting gradually became stronger than his desire to build a career in law.
“It was actually hobby turned profession for me. Acting was a hobby because you want to do what daddy does when you are young.
“But I realised that it was paying more and I felt more passionate about it. I feel happy when I do that more than the law that I went to school to study,” he said the Afrobeats podcast on published Saturday.
“I was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2003. I did litigation practice, stood before the court of law and did that for about two years. Something kept dragging me to the acting world, so I gave up in 2005, dropped the wig and gown and went fully into acting and producing.”
Adebayo also spoke about his father, veteran actor Adebayo Salami, popularly known as Oga Bello, and his reaction to the career change.
He said his father initially welcomed his decision to study law because it was a profession he had hoped to pursue but could not afford due to financial difficulties in his family.
“When I said I wanted to study law, he was happy because that was his dream. Eventually, when I pulled out from law, it was in between being happy that somebody was taking after him in the acting world and at the same time dropping the wig and gown that he had wanted to hold,” he said.
The actor added that his father eventually appreciated the direction he chose.
