Even At 40, I Wasn’t Under Pressure To Get Married –Bimbo Manuel Tells

Veteran actor, Bimbo Manuel, tells Ademola Olonilua about his career and family life

How were your days as a broadcaster at Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation?

They were incredible days because I had some of the best minds to work with and it remains a privilege for me. OGBC at that time had a reputation of grooming the best broadcasters. John Mommoh, Manny Onumonu, Sesan Ekishola, Fred Oshodi, Femi Sowoolu, among many others were there and they were incredible guys. They were people that were not only popular in Abeokuta but also in Lagos and Lagos was the most happening place in West Africa at that time. I was just formally starting out in the arts after I finished school. If I do not want to be uncharitable, everything started for me from OGBC.


At what point did you decide to move to NTA?

I never worked with NTA on a formal basis. I was an artiste that was on contract with NTA. That was after theatre school, OGBC and some other places I had worked. I studied Theatre Arts at the University of Port-Harcourt under Professor Ola Rotimi. When I was done with school, it was a natural progression for me because after OGBC, I went to OGTV. It was all I wanted to do – be in the arts, perform, read the news, present shows and host events. That provided a platform for me after the experience I had in OGTV and OGBC. Attending theatre school prepared me for bigger challenges and greater opportunities. It pushed me further in actualising my dream as an artiste. I majored in directing in school but I can count the number of times that I directed a movie. It wasn’t because I did not have enough jobs to direct but I think it was because I found myself doing more of acting because people acknowledged my acting skills. It made me too busy to go into directing.

How was it studying under late Professor Ola Rotimi?

He trained us like a soldier and there was no gender discrimination. Everyone was an artiste and it was very hard and a lot of fun. I still have friends from theatre school that we are very close till date. There is a bond that the theatre creates and you cannot find such anywhere else.

Did you have any personal encounter with him?

I had many of such. I was coming from a background of television and radio and I was very mature when I went to school. I had my own ideas about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do them. He was not going to back down on the principles of theatre, so I had to learn those principles and conform and that is what theatre is all about. While studying under him, we had some fall-outs and some of them earned me suspension and he threatened me some times with rustication. I learnt the hard way but it paid off and I think I would be doing his huge disservice if I do not credit my success to him.

You started acting at a time when the profession was frowned upon by a lot of people in the society. How did you cope with such negativity?

I was mature when I went to theatre school, so it was my decision and I did not get any help to get into school. It did not matter to my mother because she just wanted me to be educated but my father wanted me to be a bio-chemist because I was also very good at science subjects. I am sure he wanted me to be a bio-chemist because of the title but acting was all I wanted to do. When he heard I was in theatre school during one of our chance meetings because I did not stay with him, he did not make a big fuss out of it. I guess everyone was satisfied that I was in school then.

Why weren’t you living with your parents?

I had started to earn money and I was fending for myself. I started earning money for myself at 16. I started living on my own after secondary school. While I was almost through with my West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, I was already working. It was by choice because my parents had the means to fend for me but I have always had an independent mind.

We learnt that you were earning about N20 monthly at a time. How were you able to survive on your own with such stipend?

That money was not one that someone just handed over to you after you finished your work. You would fill a pink form in NTA to earn the money and you could have as many as fifty forms and it was not automatic that everyone would be paid at the same time. Payment was in batches. If you were lucky, you could get a form for N20 in ten places. Those days, N20 was relatively big money and it could buy you several things. At that time, we were content being artistes and I think that was our error. We were okay as far as we could clothe ourselves and put food on our table. It was more about the people for us at that time. It was not about stardom but how you felt deep within yourself.

Some believe that people with independent minds like yours were rascals while growing up. What kind of a child were you?

Maybe I had and still have a rebellious streak in me. I don’t like to follow the crowd and I am not also someone who likes to disrupt things. I am a strong-minded individual and I like to do things in the way that I like them. I like to go my own way, generate my own dreams and pursue them. That has brought me this far. I was a very quiet and gentle child but I also knew what I wanted. It may seem like a paradox but I was quiet and stubborn.

You were popular and lived alone, how were you able to cope with the ladies that flocked around you?

I have never been a ladies’ man even with stardom. I have always been a quiet person and a loner. I am not someone who goes to night clubs and places like that. I had my share of fun but I never really socialised. Coping with ladies was not a major challenge for me. During our time, we did not have the kind of fan reaction that exists now. People were more respectful of your privacy. They acknowledged you but it would be with respect but it is not as overt as it is now.

How were you able to raise a family with a career as demanding as yours?

I did not meet my wife until I was close to 40 years old. I cannot quantify what she brought into my life. She helped to give purpose to my life. Before she came into my life, I was going around without any sense of purpose. I just wanted to be able to live comfortably and afford anything I wanted but there was a purpose to life as she came on board. Then we began to have kids and it has been wonderful ever since we met. They helped to stabilise the kind of jobs I did. Their arrival helped to strengthen my convictions and the principles that I always act on professionally and it remains that I do not have to take every job that comes.

Is it because you are a loner that you did not get married until 40?

I don’t think it was because of that; I think it is because it was not very high on my priority list. If I wanted to get married before then, I could have but it just was not very high on my to-do list. I think I was also fortunate that I did not get pressure from my family to get married.

How did you meet your wife?

We met while I was working. She worked for a company that I was doing my project with. We met and began talking. Nobody believed we were going to get married; even I did not give it much thought. One thing led to another, we got very involved and the rest is history today.

It was rumoured that you left Tinsel because you had issues with the management. How true is that?

I did not have issues with Tinsel or the producers. I never did. There are different ways that situations and actions present themselves to different people for perceptions. I felt that I had been on Tinsel for about six and a half years and it was time for me to move on. You could easily get comfortable and complacent with just reporting for work every morning and doing the same thing over and over again. It was not the reason I decided to be an actor; I decided to choose this career because of the challenges it offers. I saw that Tinsel was beginning to take all of that from me, so I decided to leave.

What are you currently working on?

I have a lot of things I am working on. I am on the set of a series called Newman’s Street. It is based on an assessment of impact of politics and governance on different areas of the lives of people. I also just finished shooting After Dark, which is a detective series.

Why do you feature more in series than movies?

I do a lot of feature movies. I am not a ‘series man.’ I cannot be limited to a genre of movie production. I do everything. I choose carefully. If I am not in a lot of featured movies, it is not because I do not get them; it is because I choose carefully. I cannot be a part of a poor movie production; I doubt I have ever done any poor job.