‘I Offloaded Cigarettes to Survive’ — Actor Amuda Eko Opens Up on Painful Past

Yoruba actor Amuda Eko has opened up about the struggles he faced on his journey to acting, including taking on menial jobs and enduring repeated discouragement from his grandmother.

Speaking on the AfricanAList podcast, the actor revealed that he worked as a porter offloading cartons of cigarettes to fund his acting dreams.

“I started a porter job, so I began to offload cigarettes, bringing in little money. The money wasn’t enough,” he said.

Eko also recalled a particularly difficult period during his hustling days, narrating an altercation with a commercial bus driver.

He said he attempted to board a bus without paying, claiming to be a staff member and expecting the driver to recognise him.

According to him, when the driver refused, a scuffle ensued. The incident ended with the driver and conductor giving him money, believing he had been injured during the fight.

“That was how the driver and conductor gathered money for me to go treat myself,” he said.

“I saw the money and said, ‘This is money.’ I told them to go, put the money in my pocket and jumped into another bus.”

The actor also detailed his grandmother’s strong opposition to his career choice, particularly after he abandoned tailoring to pursue acting. He recounted showing her his first film role, in which he played a silent policeman.

“The first film I was in, I played a policeman. I even showed my grandma,” he said.

“She said, ‘Is this the rubbish and unfortunate thing that made you leave your tailoring shop? Look at this unfortunate boy. You only acted as a policeman, and you didn’t even say a word. Is this what you’ve been doing?”

The actor said the criticism motivated him to push for a speaking role in his next production. He said after begging the filmmakers, he was allowed to say just one word: “Goodnight”.

He said he later bought the movie and watched it with his grandmother, hoping for her approval. When she failed to recognise him, he rewound the CD to point himself out. Her response, he said, was “dismissive”.

“The next movie I appeared in, they still didn’t want me to talk, so I begged them, ‘Please allow me to talk,” he said.

“When they agreed, they told me to say just one word, which was ‘Goodnight’.

“I kept waiting for her to say something. Then I asked, ‘Alhaja, didn’t you see me?’ She replied, ‘Where? I didn’t see you?’

“So, I rewound the CD and said, ‘That’s me. That’s where I said ‘Goodnight’.

“She asked, ‘So this is the movie you acted in? You are the one that said ‘Goodnight?’ Is that why you abandoned your shop for months just to say one word? Goodnight? What exactly can you show for it?

“Then she said, ‘We’ll both wait and see.”

Eko said despite the harsh criticism, he refused to give up on acting.

“I was beginning to get tired, wondering what I really wanted to do. But my mind became hardened,” he said.

“I told myself I would keep going. If this job is making other people money, it will also make money for me. If it brings wealth to others, it will bring wealth to me too.

“So, I buckled up, became consistent and kept pushing.”