Toyosi Adesanya-Ilesanmi is one of the popular faces in the Yoruba movie industry, having been acting for over two decades. In this interview with DUPE AYINLA-OLASUNKANMI, she shares her experience as a married celebrity, among other issues. What is the secret of your staying power in the industry in the last 21 years?
All along, it has been perseverance and endurance because entertainment is not an easy task. With God on my side, I have been able to maintain my name and remain relevant in my profession.
So, what is it like being an entertainer, a wife and mother?
What I know is that, my husband knows the nature of my job and has stood by me since we got married. Also, I try as much as I can to keep my home away from my job; I don’t mix them. God has been the pillar of my marital life and career. As far as the children are concerned, there is a crèche where we take them to. But any time I am on a set, my husband usually stays around to keep an eye on them. He is a businessman. If I plan to spend four days on a set and have to add an extra day, I have to call and inform him, and he will ask to speak with the producer to confirm.
But doesn’t this suggest that he doesn’t trust you totally?
That is the way we do it. It is just for him to verify that I am not at any other place. And that is my own way of letting him know that I am all for him and nobody else. It is my sign of respect for him.
Recently, we have heard of breakups among celebrity couples. How have you been able to keep yours for over seven years?
Marriage is not an easy task. I will be truthful about that aspect of our lives. I have been married for the past seven years and I shuttle between Akure and wherever my job takes me to. I don’t want to say anything against those who have problems in their marriages. That is why I keep on saying to anybody who cares to listen that being married is not an easy task, especially when you are a celebrity.
Some people, especially acting couples, cannot cope with their marriages today. But I don’t have anything to say about actors who cannot sustain their marriages. I would rather say that if you have God and forego so many things, things will work out fine. It is not easy for celebrities to stay married. We have so many broken marriages out there, but we are known because we are in the public eyes. People insinuate so many things about us because we are known faces. But I will tell you that it is not easy to be married and be an entertainer, especially in the movie- making world.
But most people say celebrity marriages break up because of influence from friends or colleagues?
That is not true. It is a fallacy. I have a friend, who is like a sister, in the movie world. She has stood by me all through. She always advises me never to leave my marriage. When she got married to Saheed Balogun, in August 2000, I was there with Bimbo Oshin and the likes. I will tell you that she loved her marriage wholeheartedly, but one thing led to another and then the crisis. But I don’t want to say it is anybody’s fault. I would rather tell you that I keep a friend who supports my marriage, despite the fact that hers didn’t work out. I had an issue with my husband last year, but it was Fathia who told me not move out of my marriage, come rain or sunshine.
So, I don’t keep bad friends. Men out there come to jeopardise our efforts by dating us and running away. You cannot see any of us, the females in the Yoruba sector, who is not ready to settle down. Some of us are in our marital homes and managing to sustain them. Do you know the meaning of managing in a marriage? It means whether we see or not, we still stay in. It was about five of us who got married in 2007: Moji Olaiya, Doris Simeon, Laide Bakare, one other person and me. I know what kept everyone going and what made them leave too. Moji Olaiya was trying to make ends meet in that marriage. So, maybe she could not cope anymore when she opted out.
How come you are the only one still married?
That is why I said perseverance and endurance matter a lot in any marriage or relationship. There is no woman who is celebrating 20 years of marital life and has not gone through challenges. So, if I want to say anything about my marriage, I will rather keep mute and say that my husband is doing his best and so I am. Remember there is no paragon of perfection. I got married to an Akure man and I had to learn all their ethics.
Once in a while, you feature in English soaps. But why haven’t you been regular?
If we are invited on a regular basis, we will go. But this tribalistic act is really not doing us any good in the industry. We usually invite them for jobs, but they don’t reciprocate. The likes of Jide Kosoko, Sola Fosudo and Bimbo Akintola did more of English movies back then than Yoruba.
Bimbo is fully into Yoruba movies, but still features once in a while in English movies. That is because of tribalism, yet she is a fantastic actress. Some of the Yoruba actors are more enlightened than the English actors. But because English is an official language, everybody reckons with it first. And you can count more educated ones among us too. The movie, Oduduwa, was produced by an Ekiti man who featured the likes of Dele Odule, I-Show Pepper, Lere Paimo and the rest. When they were speaking English in that movie, people did not know they could speak the language fluently.
But why is it like that with the Yoruba sector?
Sometimes, it has to do with actors being stereotyped. When I started, I was featured as a housemaid; and up till today, I still get that role and you will see that I can play it perfectly. That is the reason people do not believe that I am educated. I went to Offa Polytechnic before gaining admission into the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, where I graduated as a Lab Technologist. Give me any role and I will play it, in both sectors, because we do not need to be typecast as actors.
In my own case, when I started at the age of 19 under the Odunfa Caucus, where we underwent training, I was very young and there was nothing to show off as a lady; so, I was given any role. And that is the reason I can play that role and comedy theatrically and you will love it. I am also a make-up artiste; I do sound tracks for movies and also do intro for many of our popular Fuji artistes. I am not very good at dancing but I sing. It is my singing talent that got me the lead role as Adetutu in Efusetan Aniwura, which has given me a lot of accolades up till date.
Do you have any plans to take up the music part of you professionally?
Yes, I have plans to take it up seriously now. I have one song that I will be producing soon. But I am actually waiting for one Fuji act whose name I will not reveal yet. What I will be doing is innovative: Hip-hop, Fuji, Acapella and Folklore.
What is it like being typecast as an actor?
If you are stuck in a character, you will have that problem of being one character. Once you are given a role and you are able to play it well, if any other producer is coming with an offer to appear in his movie, you will be given that same character, just because you were able to play it to perfection. An example is Ogogo.
He is a versatile actor, but people only see him as a gentleman in movies. If you have seen him in some movies back in the days, in the movies like Wicked Boy, Owo Blow, On the Run and Edujobi, he played the role of a gangster with Yinka Quadri. But now, he is stereotyped. Also, Funke Akindele had to break out when she played Jenifa. Nobody knew she could do that because of the educative series, I Need to Know. We are not willing to be stuck on a character, but our investors and producers have made us to be like that.
Do you regret getting married to someone outside your profession?
No. This is because my husband has turned out to be an actor in our own way. If you see him, the question you will ask is: is he an actor because he now knows how to imitate people. So, all the characters that I wanted in an actor then, I have imbibed them in him.
The reason I wanted to get married to an actor then was because that was what the old ones in this profession did and they did not have problems with their marriages. I am talking about the likes of Hubert Ogunde, Oyin Adejobi and the rest. I have friends who are married in this same profession and they do not have problems because they know the ethics of the job. If you are married to an outsider, before they can understand and cope, it will take forever. I tried marrying an actor, but it didn’t work out.
But why do men think that actresses are wayward and not marriage materials?
We are not like that, but it is painful that people see us that way. Because there are lot of ladies out there who are worse than us. The fact that a man approaches you does not mean that you are going to bed with him. If Yomi Fash-Lanso should come on set now, you will see the way the ladies will be carried away.
The same goes for me too as an actress. There are many things that an ordinary person can do and get away with. But we cannot do: like eating in just any public place, fighting and the rest. We have names to protect too. For those who will go to any length to get roles, because that is what we have in the industry now, they are not trained actors. Any actor who passes through the rudiment of theatre will know that you do not have to expose your body to get roles. They are the ones denting the image of others.
But it is believed that they help advertise the movies?
No! It is their movies that they help to advertise and not ours. We have movie makers, marketers and producers. Trust me, all that will end because we are going back to our old system, where you have to do the normal training before you can be featured in a movie.
Apart from doing other people’s jobs, what project do you have on ground personally?
Apart from my music career that I am set to launch soon, I will also be celebrating my 21 years on stage. Also, my new movie is set to hit the market shelves soon. The 21 years on stage will feature a lot of activities which will include my talents. I will be doing a showcase of all that I have in me at the event and it will take place next year.
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