Kunle Afolayan (born 30 September 1975) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, producer and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

. He is widely credited for elevating the quality of

Nollywood Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in ''The New York Times''. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there ...

movies though larger budgets, shooting on 35mm, releasing in cinemas, and improving cliché Nollywood storylines. After starting his film career as an actor in the 1999 political drama '' Saworoide'', Afoloayan made his directorial debut in 2006 with '' Irapada'', a Nigerian supernatural thriller, which won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Film in an African Language. His follow-on directing credits include ''

The Figurine ''The Figurine: Araromire'' is a 2009 Nigerian supernatural suspense thriller film written by Kemi Adesoye, produced and directed by Kunle Afolayan, who also stars in the film as one of the main protagonists. It also stars Ramsey Nouah and Omoni ...

'', ''

Phone Swap ''Phone Swap'' is a 2012 Nigerian romance comedy-drama film written by Kemi Adesoye, directed and produced by Kunle Afolayan. It stars Nse Ikpe Etim, Wale Ojo, Joke Silva, Chika Okpala, Lydia Forson and Afeez Oyetoro. The film was conceived after ...

'', ''

October 1 Events Pre-1600 * 331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. * 366 – Pope Damasus I is consecrated. * 959 – Edgar the Peaceful becomes king of all England, in succession to Eadw ...

,'' and ''

Citation A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of ...

. October 1'' was the winner of 16 major African movie awards in 2015 and the second highest grossing Nigerian film in Nigerian cinemas at the time of its release, a feat Afolayan was to repeat two years later with '' The CEO''. In 2021, the director signed a three-picture deal with Netflix. ''Swallow'', the screen adaption of

Sefi Atta Sefi Atta (born January 1964) is a Nigerian Americans, Nigerian-American novelist, short-story writer, playwright and screenwriter. Her books have been translated into many languages, radio plays have been broadcast by the BBC, and her stage play ...

's book of the same name was the first to be released in October 2021, followed by '' Aníkúlápó,'' an epic Nigerian

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

released in September 2022. Afolayan has described the work as a "

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...

recreated in Nigeria but with a better representation of our culture”. Eleven days after its release, it was the #1 most-watched non-English Netflix original film.

Early life and career

Afolayan is of Igbomina-

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

descent, from

Kwara State Kwara State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Kwárà), is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger state, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the internation ...

. He is the son of the theatre and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

Ade Love Adeyemi Josiah Afolayan (1940–1996) was a Nigerian actor, filmmaker, dramatist, and producer. Early life Afolayan was born in 1940 in Kwara state Nigeria, he was a film actor, director, and producer. He is the brother of actress Toyin Afola ...

. He majored in economics and started out working in a bank while doing some casual acting, before deciding to move into full-time

filmmaking Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

and taking a course at the

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, ...

. Since 2005 he has been active in the Nigerian film industry. He has made several films including: '' The Figurine: Araromire'' which was in the

and

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

s and ''

'' which featured Wale Ojo,

Joke Silva Joke Silva , MFR is a Nigerian actress, director, and businesswoman. In 1998 she had a major role, starring opposite Colin Firth and Nia Long in the British-Canadian film ''The Secret Laughter of Women''. In 2006, she won " Best Actress in ...

Nse Ikpe Etim Nse Ikpe-Etim (born 21 October 1974) is a Nigerian actress. She came into prominence in 2008 for her role in ''Reloaded''. She was nominated for ''Best Actress in a Leading Role'' at the 5th and 8th Africa Movie Academy Awards for her role in ...

and

Chika Okpala Chief Chika Okpala (born 10 June 1950) is a Nigerian comedian. He is popularly known as Chief Zebrudaya a sobriquet he got from his role as Chief Zebrudaya in a TV comedy series, ''New Masquerade'' which aired from 1983 to 1993. Education He at ...

. ''The Figurine'' won five major awards in the African Film Academy and was successful in Nigerian movie theaters. Afolayan appeared at the

Subversive Film Festival The Subversive Festival is an Year, annual international fortnight of political, activist, cultural, educational, literary and artistic events that takes place in Zagreb, Croatia every May. Its activities are divided into the Subversive Film Festi ...

in 2011 where he represented the Nigerian film industry with his colleague

Zeb Ejiro Zeb Ejiro, Order of the Federal Republic, MFR is a Nigerian Filmmaking, filmmaker and producer. He is one of the two brothers of Chico Ejiro, a veteran Nigerian filmmaker and producer. In November 2005, Zeb received a National award of Order of ...

. In May 2013, ''Phone Swap'' premiered in France at the first edition of NollywoodWeek Paris and won the Public Choice Award.

Personal life

Afolayan married Tolu in 2007, and they have four children. Their marriage ended in 2019. He identifies as a

Free-thinker Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...

. The filmmaker struck a deal with Netflix in 2021 to make three feature films, including a screen adaptation of Sefi Atta's book ''Swallow''. He and the writer penned the script which reportedly has a major twist from the original story. The movie revolves around a woman who begins to consider going into drug trafficking in mid-'80s Lagos.

Controversy

On 6 April 2015, Afolayan posted a tweet which implied that

Igbos The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and formerly also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'', * * * ''Eboans'', ''Heebo''; natively ) are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A siz ...

were the majority group behind

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

in Nigeria. The backlash from fans led to an apology from Afolayan and an explanation that he was concerned about the piracy of his films, and most especially threats on the potential release of unlicensed copies of ''

'', his latest film at the time. Shortly after his outburst, pirated copies of ''October 1'' hit the market on 13 April 2015. In an interview with Cable magazine, Afolayan was quoted as saying he does not watch Nigerian movies; ''″Truth be told, I hardly watch them because I am keen on watching movies that will challenge me and change my orientation about certain things.″'' and this led to him receiving several heated responses from fans and some colleagues in the Nigerian movie industry. Days after this News broke, Afolayan shared a video on social media where he announced that he had been taken out of context and then tried to set the record straight

Golden Effects Pictures

Afolayan is the CEO of Golden Effects Pictures, a Nigerian film and production company incorporated in 2005. Ambassador Audu Kadiri, Nigeria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) office in Geneva said, "the acclaimed producer came to limelight as a film producer in Nigeria when he founded the Golden Effect Pictures Limited, a film production company that produces and releases high-quality films." The company's feature films include '' Irapada'', ''The Figurine'', ''

'', ''October 1'',

Roti Roti (also known as chapati) is a round flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent. It is popular in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Trinid ...

, '' Omugwo'', '' The Tribunal'', '' The CEO'' and ''

Mokalik ''Mokalik'' ( en, Mechanic) is a 2019 Nigerian bilingual comedy drama film produced and directed by veteran filmmaker Kunle Afolayan. The film stars newcomer Toni Afolayan in the male lead role along with Femi Adebayo. The film had its theatric ...

''.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afolayan, Kunle Living people Yoruba filmmakers New York Film Academy alumni Male actors from Lagos Nigerian film directors Nigerian male film actors Yoruba male actors 21st-century Nigerian male actors 1974 births Male actors in Yoruba cinema Yoruba-language film directors English-language film directors from Nigeria Kunle Filmmakers from Lagos Yoruba actors Nigerian male television actors People from Kwara State