IN a recent episode of the Teju Babyface Deep Dive Podcast, Nollywood actor and filmmaker, Lateef Adedimeji, opened up about his early career struggles.
The actor, who has become a household name in Nigeria, shared that he was once paid as little as ₦4,000 to ₦10,000 for lead roles.
"If I tell people that I wasn’t collecting ₦100,000, ₦200,000 until 2015/16, a lot of people would not believe me. Before then, the highest I collected for a lead role was either ₦4,000, ₦5,000 or ₦10,000," Adedimeji said.
He also recalled a particular role in Ilorin in 2010, for which he was paid a meagre ₦1,000.
"There is a lead role that I did for 10 days that I was given a thousand naira. I spent 10 days on that set. I wasn't even given feeding money until day six. I have played about 8 scenes for ₦8,000. It was really a tough one," he added.
Despite these early challenges, Adedimeji persevered and eventually gained popularity for his role in the 2013 film "Kudi Klepto". Since then, he has starred in numerous Nollywood hits, including "Sugar Rush" (2019), "The New Patriots" (2020), "Ayinla" (2021), and "Jagun Jagun" (2023), which earned two Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards for Best Indigenous Film (West Africa) and Best Costume Design.
