During an interview with Olamide Famuwagun, popular Nigerian actor Olaniyi Afonja aka Sanyeri told up about how he climbed to popularity and suffered a lot of abuse for his tribal mark on work.
Kindly tell us how your acting career started?
It all started while I was young as people do tell my parents that I’m very talented in acting; even when I was in the Saint Michaels Anglican School, Oke-Ebo, Oyo State, my classmates and teachers always wanted me to act and crack jokes for them. That was how I started falling in love with it (acting).
How were you able to respond to people including colleagues who judged you based on your tribal marks and Yoruba accent?
Rising in this industry wasn’t easy at all because I received a lot of backlashes from people on set daily. A lot of people also thought my tribal marks will limit my career but I got a new manager who helped me get rid of such difficulties. As for my tribal marks, I see it as my selling point; anyone hating me because of it doesn’t like me naturally.
