Branding Is Key For Every Nollywood Actor – Bolanle Ninalowo

Nollywood actor Bolanle Ninalowo has opened up on his career journey thus far. He recently revealed that positioning is very important in the entertainment industry.

Speaking during an interview with The Nation, Ninalowo shared that being a successful actor is not something that ever happens by chance.

He stated that it is almost impossible for anyone to succeed in Nollywood out of the blue, stressing that hard work and being intentional are key factors to becoming a household name.

“Yes, first is grace, and then two is positioning. My brand is very important to me. I’m not just an actor, I’m a business actor,” he said.

Ninalowo emphasised the need for movie stars to build an identity outside the screen, noting that branding will always help actors to stand out.

He concluded by saying that the fact that people now refer to him as “Makanaki”, instead of his Nollywood name, is proof that branding can work wonders if channelled the right way.

“Maybe you can tell me how many actors in the last decade the industry has been able to brand in a way that people call them by a name outside of their acting name.

So, when you say Maka, see how everybody reacts? That is the brand. For me, brand is key, not just jumping from set to set. How many more films do I have to act in for you to know who I am?” he added.

WOW.

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 is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.