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After being out of the spotlight for a few years, Austin Emmanuel, a film producer, actor, and director who is renowned for his outstanding work over the years, is back and totally dedicated to his business. Actress Debbie Sokoya hosted a YouTube program where Austin told his inspirational tale of overcoming adversity to achieve success.
How did you start in the movie industry?
Well, I started as a production manager.
Can you tell us about your background?
I was raised by my grandma in Owode Idiroko in Ogun State and later I moved to Agege in Lagos, where I met a lot of people. I can say I am a street boy. I grew up doing menial jobs and providing for myself. I never met my dad until I was 15 years old. I don’t know my mother physically. I guess I was five years old when I first met her, and till then, we never met again until I was told she passed away when I was 18. So, I grew up on the street.
What was it like growing up without parents?
It was not easy, but I survived; that is why I am never moved when people say, “Austine oma ti jabo,” meaning you have fallen. I am always like but I have never been somebody before, so what’s the big deal? I have been bullied severely, so I don’t feel bad when people bully me. I love being alone because I’m used to it. It’s not pride at all as some people tagged it. I have faced a lot of challenges, but despite all I have been through, I never gave up on myself. I have promised myself that the only time I can give up is when I sleep and don’t wake up. Besides that, I will always rise! I trained myself from primary school to secondary with football and the love a lot of people have for me. I tried to join acting since my secondary school days but I didn’t see anyone who could push
me. Later, when I got to the polytechnic, I met my boss, Jelili, who introduced me to my late boss “Ajigijaga”. Immediately he saw me, he spoke positively to my life that I would be great, and later, he began to fight with me without any tangible reasons.
I left my career and travelled for survival just because some marketers were fighting with me. It was indeed a terrible time but I am glad to be back.
So let’s talk about your marriage with Jumoke Ikudaisi, who was also an actor. What ended the marriage?
I do not want to talk about my ex-wife and her mother. The whole thing between us was deep! Imagine someone who offends you can still go and bring the Bible out to swear against you; isn’t that too much? I was a slave in that marriage just because I wanted to make it. There was this my ex’s aunt who told them that one day I would still face them because when a man is pushed to the wall, he will speak up. I was living with those that were ganging up against me. I love my children, Ife and Favour. But those people, they don’t care. I wanted to move from Zimbabwe to South Africa; I was in the Limpopo River just like I was going to exile because I wanted to be far from them. My passport was seized, but God sent me a helper who just walked up to me to say, “How are you? Are you a Nigerian?” and immediately I said yes, she smiled and said, “I love Nigerians.” She stood by me without even knowing who I was because I was too broke.
I didn’t open up to her about my identity because I wanted to humble myself and start afresh. That was how she snapped a picture and posted it on her page on social media, and people started commenting that this was our actor. She confronted me that I was a pretender and felt disappointed and that affected our relationship. I moved from there to Botswana. There, immigration officers came knocking at my door and I was arrested with cuffs in my hands. It had never happened to me before. When they took me to their station, I met a lot of policemen sitting on my case like a panel. I was interrogated, and I mentioned that my name is Austine Emmanuel, their boss checked my name on Google Search and asked why I looked different because my look changed. He couldn’t look at me again;
that was the first time I knew God was interested in my case. It was a case of “man supporting man” that I had never experienced. He left that place to his office, and all of them followed him and left me all alone in my seat. I didn’t know that he went to his office to cry. Later, he called me in and asked me what was wrong with me.
He said: “I am supposed to jail you, and you would pay a huge sum of money, but I will only lock you up for a day for your stupidity. He did and they freed me the next day. He gave me food and told me I could walk freely in that state, but he advised me to go back to my country and face my fear. He said, “Go back, you
are a star.” After COVID-19, they drove me a long distance to go and take my flight back to Nigeria.
How many years did you spend on all these journeys?
I used about three to four years. I was travelling without a kobo on me.
During these periods, did your ex-wife reach out at all?
Not at all; she never did, and when they saw that I was back and I was picking up the broken pieces of my life, they wanted to fix things, but I have sworn that nothing will ever make us come back together. All I know myself is that I fell, but I am back! No matter what now, any movie I feature in or produce will sell; that is the truth about my grace.
Why were you that broke then?
I was very broke because I had invested in five movies that were never sold, coupled with marital issues. I must tell you that I saw a lot!
There is a lot in life that even I didn’t know I could be back alive, not to mention coming back to the limelight. That was why I said maybe my bestie, Itele, thought I had died. Think about it, I mean, I didn’t snatch your wife, I didn’t kill your children, and you didn’t hear from me and never asked about me. It must have been that he thought I was dead. You don’t care about me because I have challenges, but if I die, you will post me o. There was a time I posted him on his birthday and he never acknowledged it. I wasn’t surprised, though, because in this industry, all our people do is use and dump. They don’t owe me anything. If you feel like using me today, and I feel it’s convenient for me, I will do it; if not, I won’t.
Let’s talk about movie marketers of then and nowadays. Did you ever see this growth of streaming platforms coming?
At all! All those marketers were like our gods then, and that was why they could make or mar anyone, but now Google is our marketer.
We are grateful to God for making it so easy for us in the movie industry.
