When you wake up any morning, any day and find Odunlade Adekola trending, don’t be surprised. ‘That guy’ has surely paid his bills. Odunlade may not be the one you see in Hollywood movies, or the one who does cameo appearances in Bollywood movies, but he sure is in the faces of fans of Nollywood movies. And, when you realise that he’s also on billboards and TV adverts as a Brand Ambassador, you may begin to ask Odunlade Adekola is. We are here to take you through his world.
Odunlade Adekola’s early life
Odunlade Adekola was born on December 31, 1976, in Abeokuta, Ogun. Although, he hails from Ekiti – where he was picked out to be king, he was born and raised in Lafenwa, Abeokuta by Pastor and Deaconess Adekola. He grew up in a Christian family devoted to church activities.
For his formal education, he started at St. John’s Primary School and moved on to St. Peter’s College, Abeokuta. Subsequently, he attended Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), and earned a National Diploma Certificate. Later on, in 2018, Odunlade bagged a bachelors degree in Business Administration at the University of Lagos.
He is married to Ruth Adekola, and the union is blessed with 4 children.
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Odunlade Adekola’s career
Odunlade Adekola’s career began as a member of Christ Apostolic Church, Lafenwa, Abeokuta, where he started acting. He got motivation from his church audience and began professional acting in 1996, when he was just 17. In January 1998, he became a bonafide member of the Association of Nigeria Theatre Arts Practitioners, rising to prominence in 2003, after playing a lead role in Asiri Gomina Wa. He has starred in, scripted, produced and directed several Nigerian films over the years and his dynamism has remained the talk of the town. Some of his films include Sunday Dagboru (2010), Oyenusi (2014), The Vendor (2018), among many others.
Odunlade ventured into the music industry in December 2015 and has produced some interesting songs. Some of which include Omo Baba (2018), Oju Olorun (2018), Arike (2019).
Odunlade Adekola’s awards
In April 2014, he won the Africa Movie Academy Award for the Best Actor of the Year. In December 2015, he marked his entrance into the Nigerian music industry.
Before then, Odunlade has gone home with:
- Best Actor of the Year, City People Entertainment Awards, 2009
- Best Actor of the Year, City People Entertainment Awards, 2011
- The Best Actor in a Leading Role, Yoruba Movie Academy Awards (YMMA), 2012
His other awards include:
- Best Actor of the Year, City People Entertainment Awards, 2014
- The Best Actor of the Year, City People Entertainment Awards, 2015
- Best Actor (Indigenous), Nigeria Entertainment Awards, 2015
- Movie Personality of the Year (Male), City People Movie Awards, 2017
- Best Actor, Nigeria Entertainment Awards, 2018
- Best Actor in a Comedy ‘A Million Baby’, Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards, 2018
- Actor of the Year, Independent Achievers Award, 2019
- Most Searched Actor, NET Honours AWard, 2019
How Odunlade Adekola became a meme sensation
Odunlade’s expressions started as mere laughable screenshot images – fans trying to reach out to their favourite movie character – but then grew into memes people could use in place of other smileys or other memes.
You cannot go a day without seeing an expression of the usually comic character on your screens, and if you haven’t seen this man on social media before, then you probably just started using the internet. In fact, he became even more popular due to his funny expressions and interpretations of roles in movies which have earned him the position as one of the most sought-after actors.
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Odunlade Adekola’s pictures on social media have made him become the “King of Memes.” His facade and highly dramatic expressions while acting in various Yoruba movies, made this possible.
Surprisingly, even comedians are barely used for memes.
Odunlade Adekola’s perceived net worth
He is estimated to be worth to be $1.9 million. In 2015, he became one of the new Globacom ambassadors along with Dija, O C Ukeje, Reedado Banks, Mama-G, Bovi, A.Y.
Also, he signed an endorsement deal with Conoil along with Flavour, Helen Paul and Omawumi in 2016.
Odunlade is also an ambassador to Goldberg. And in 2018, he became an ambassador to a real estate firm, Revolution Plus Property. Additionally, he was endorsed by Ayoola Foods in 2019.
Odunlade is the CEO and founder of Odunlade Adekola Film Productions (OAFP) – a film school where upcoming actors and actresses receive professional trainings.
Consider yourself briefed about Odunlade Adekola.