Desmond Elliot sees himself as one of those fortunate people in life. Growing up in the north perhaps better explains why his Yoruba language appears half-baked and the reason a lot of people didn’t think he is one when he came out publicly to say so.
He says, “They wanted to know where the name Olusola came from, but all that is gone now. It was an election to be determined by people in my constituency and those were the people who know me from home. So, I wasn’t really bothered by what people were saying.
I am born of a Yoruba father, my mother is an Igbo, I grew up in the north and my wife is from Akwa Ibom.” The beauty of having a mixed background, he notes, is that it allowed him to appreciate different cultures and see everyone as the same even in our diversity. “It is also helpful in the field of filmmaking and acting that I choose.”
A South African soap opera, Egoli
challenged Elliot. He would always say to himself “I would love to be like
Steve.” Steve was a character in the production. Being a church boy too, he was
in the drama group and people got to notice his acting skills. They thought he
was excellent and a good friend kept advising him.
He narrates, “He would always come
around when the movie was playing and he would say Sola you can do this. They
called me Sola at home, but I realised most producers then were from the east
and I felt that using Sola could make things difficult. I didn’t really
understand why I decided to use Desmond at that point.
It is not a stage name; it is my
English name. That was how Sola Elliot changed to Desmond Eliot. If anyone
calls me Sola now I know the person knows me from home, but if I hear the
Desmond I know it is when I started acting.”
Elliot’s degree was in Economics at
the Lagos State University, so he didn’t have a background in films. When he
started acting in 1999, almost 16 years ago, it took him about eight months to
get a job. His mother kept wondering where he was always going every day, from
morning till evening.
After about the eighth month, she
queried him. He remembers, “My mother said Sola you go out every day, we’ve not
seen money and we’ve not seen films. What do you go out to do? I just kept
telling her it would be fine. But my father had serious faith and confidence in
me.”
While he kept looking for
opportunities in movies endlessly, he tried other things, including modelling.
And in 1999-2000, he got a Tom-Tom (candy) commercial job. “I was picked last.
I was very skinny and rough; it was obvious I was hungry. I saw that as a
favour from God and that actually gave me hope because I was paid well. It was
a Tom- Tom’s zebra crossing commercial.” Although he concedes, he wasn’t good
as others, he kept pushing on with the mind-set that he would get his chance.
\
When he got a chance to star in his
first movie produced by Emeka Ani, there was still a dilemma. Ani told Elliot
and his friend, Tuvi James, to decide who between them should be part of the
production. The character was to play about three scenes.
He states, “I and Tuvi were not too
close, but I pleaded with him because he had been featuring in productions. We
struggled about it a bit and my promise to him was that in the future I would
pay him back. It was just the hope that someday I would return it and that was
a sincere promise. The tittle of the movie was The Challenge and I went to set
every day to see how things were done since I had no idea how it worked.”
From the bit role he played in The Challenge, he started introducing himself to people, including Nouah. According to him, Nouah was playing one Jamaican song in his car and he left where everyone was seated to meet him.
“Now, it is funny how I see other young actors come to me. They call me by character name and try to explain the role they are playing just the way I introduced myself to Nouah then. It is now a conscious effort to be nicer because truth be told he wasn’t really nice to me.
He just said okay and he continued listening to his song,” he narrates. But, Elliot maintains that one shouldn’t be quarrelsome, stressing that one should be prepared to meet people with different ideas, characters and spirits. “Don’t be quarrelsome because message spread faster. The fact that people felt I was humble worked for me, though they would never give you a bad or hard man’s role.”
SOURCE: VIBE NIGERIA
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