KUNLE AFOLAYAN’S OCTOBER 1 AS VALIDATION FOR DELECTABLE ACTRESS KEHINDE BANKOLE

WHENEVER Kunle Afolayan’s big budget movie‘October 1’ is released, one actress that moviegoers would find a good centre to hang a part of the story of the movie on, is the delectable, disarmingly humble and friendly Kehinde Bankole. The
Abeokuta, Ogun State born actress, model and singer proved with the sub lead role—Tawa—that she played, that she could be relied upon as an actress. Kenny Banks as close friends like to call her for short, put up an impressive performance that was enough to earn her a place among an emerging group of young talented actors who are poised to reign over the Nigerian screen.

Tall and on the slim side, the Mass Communication graduate of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State may be short on movie credits and may have been largely underutilized in the few movie works she has featured, the star of several episodes of the engaging television series Super Story, proved with her deft portrayal of the role of Tawa that she is certainly an actress Nollywood directors must look out for. Not only was she believable, Kenny showed that she possesses the right dose of grace, artistic carriage and screen presence to pull off any role.

The fourth of six children who was born and raised in Lagos, Kenny’s first professional contactwith the entertainment industry was when she took part in the 2003 Miss Commonwealth beauty pageant. She followed it up with her participation in the 2004 edition of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant.  Kenny rode on the back of her participation in those pageants to book a place on the runway. An opportunity to strut the runway came first through ace fashion designer Mon-Ami. The actress who has featured in more television dramas, series and soaps including being on Doctors Quarters, Echoes, Tinsel, Shadows and Papa Ajasco later modeled for other designers and brands including being an ambassador for Lux beauty soap.

 An actress who trained on the job, and has had the benefit of working with a lot of directors, Kenny never thought of acting fulltime. “I have always wanted to be a model. I use to like Tyra Banks but later on I found Halle Berry and Angelina Jolie then I thought of acting too”, she said. 

Now fully devoted to the screen acting vocation with plans to set up an acting and networking agency in the future, the initial validation for Kenny’s talent as an actress came when she featured in several episodes of Super Story. She agreed that but for the series, she would still have probably been looking for an opportunity to engage the turf. “I got my break with Super Story. I started with the Papa Ajasco series. But I must have impressed the WAP crew because they called me back to feature as a sub lead on the Super Story series and then they called me back to feature as a lead and they kept calling me back and I said to myself, yes I think I have nailed it. So now, I am here and with October 1 and a few other I have done, the sky is just the starting point”, she explained.  

With an acting pouch that includes movies like Façade, Render to Ceaser and Awakening, Kenny asserts though that her participation in October 1 is something of a validation of her acting abilities. According to her: “I feel excited. I feel validated sort of. I mean it has been some hardworking years, so if I get big projects like this that provide the opportunity to exhibit my talent, the natural thing is to feel validated”. 

She described working on the set of the movie and working with a hardworking director like Kunle Afolayan as challenging and rewarding. “Working on the set was challenging. At first it was a bit stressful because we have to go far away, to a village for weeks to shoot. But the excitement of working on a big budget movie with an interesting story and working with a good director like Kunle Afolayan and a fantastic crew over shadowed everything. But it was good teamwork and hard work too”, she said. 

But was it easy breaking into the field? “No, it was not”, she replied, adding it was very tough for her in the beginning. “You find yourself having to prove that you have the gift or talent for acting and the only way to prove is to be given the opportunity to show it and those opportunities were very rare. So one had to look out for auditions and trials but what was good about it was that at every stage of the trial something positive in terms of remarks came out of it so one was encouraged to keep trying. I kept trying until I got the break on Super Story and the rest as they say is history”.

Raised by parents whom she described as “God fearing and disciplinarians”, Kenny revealed that at first her parents objected to her decision to engage the turf but she explained that they later allowed her walk her dream when they realized that it was all she wanted to do. According to her: “Although my parents and family saw my involvement in entertainment coming, they only objected when I was a bit younger and it was understandable because they had concerns about my doing well academically. They wanted us to do well. So what you need do is to prove your self academically and once they established that you can cope well, they will encourage you’’.

Does she find acting rewarding? Kenny said she does and adds that she couldn’t have found fulfillment doing any other thing.  She said: “I find it rewarding. It is so fulfilling for me. The only thing that is like a pain now is time management. Each project owns you. It can affect you sometimes but once you are able to win the battle and balance it, you will be okay’’. 

Said to be very fashionable, Kenny, in response to a question on the secrets of her trim and good looks, simply said that the secret for her remains being mindful of what she takes into her body.  She said: “I give myself a lot of rest. I don’t eat heavy but I eat well. I also try not to eat late at night. I also exercise and am just a bit mindful about what I take into my body’’. 

Kenny’s career ambition is to set up a casting and networking agency that should be able to solve some of the problems she encountered at the early stages of her career.  “I am working on setting up something on my own. I want to be able to solve some of the problems I had when I was coming up which is networking and communication. It was hard to know where a casting was taking place. It was hard to know who was legit and who was just doing it to defraud people or take advantage of people. But if there is an agency that will make it clear, people will rely on the agency. So I hope to be able to fill that gap. I also know that I will end up on a talk show programme. That is what I call my ten years from now dream”, she surmised.