If you didn’t think Abiola Oyewole could pull off what she pulled off in “Awijare (2022),” fret not— neither did she, but she always does in the end.
The “A day in the sun” and “Ija odola” star has been a bona fide Nollywood star for over a decade, but as a performer, she always felt there was something more to do.
“There have been plenty of performances that I just kind of went extra in because I know I could bring more to the entire perception of the story,” she tells Adedamola Edun of SIMPLE TV (an online TV platform of SIMPLE Magazine), the day after the film’s world premiere. She’s always leaned toward work that felt uneasy, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable. She knew how to draw a crowd, and how to make something hit big. But going to those deep, dark places unlike many actors around her. Either she didn’t know how to take the easy path, or she was just crazy.
Abiola Oyewole, who is also the executive producer on Awijare, is unrecognizable here. I don’t mean physically, necessarily—though there is a transformation as well. It’s like we’re meeting a new actor, with the same star power that holds the camera’s attention, but with a riveting, fresh feel for complexity and toughness, and empathy, from the inside out.
