Teaching is a skill and to develop one’s ability to become a good teacher, it takes a lot of practice, training, strength, and patience. Traits a person also needs to possess to make it in the entertainment industry. On today’s list, we’ll be checking out 6 Nigerian celebrities who left their jobs as teachers to pursue a career in entertainment. Without further ado, here they are.
1. Yousef
Big Brother Naija contestant Yousef upon coming on the show revealed to Nigerians that he actually used to work as a teacher before coming on the show. Yousef taught secondary school students but said that after the show, he planned on focusing more on modeling, acting, and other jobs in the entertainment sector.
2. Sam Dede
Prolific Nollywood actor Sam Dede, a man who has graced our screens for a very long time and still continues to work in the movie business is also a lecturer. In fact, fellow actor Yul Edochie revealed while celebrating Sam Dede’s birthday that he, Sam, actually taught Yul at the University of Port Harcourt. Yul Edochie wrote:
He was my lecturer in the University of Port Harcourt, Theatre Arts Department. He taught us Acting. He laid the foundation for my successful acting career.
3. Saka
Another actor who is passing on the gift of knowledge is funny man, Afeez Oyetoro popularly known as Saka. Saka teaches drama at the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin in Lagos. Speaking about his decision to teach and act, Saka told The Punch:
There is little or no difference between teaching and acting. I enjoy doing both. When you teach in the classroom, you are officially disseminating information. It is almost the same thing as what an actor does on stage or in a film. An actor entertains and at the same time, passes a message to his audience. My work as a teacher of theatre arts enhances my practical methodology. When I go outside the classroom to act in a movie or on stage, I gain additional experience and bring back it to the classroom. Such experience enhances my teaching methodology.
4. Ozzy Agu
Talented Nollywood actor Ozzy Agu is another man who used to teach children before becoming an actor. In fact, Ozzy says that it was through being a teacher that he discovered his love for acting. He said in an interview with Move Back to Nigeria:
It was during one of my youth development workshops that I realized that in teaching kids, they responded more when we acted out the lesson; it got into their bodies. When we dramatized what we were doing, they’d become fully engaged. Everybody got involved quickly and it came alive. Funny enough, when I was in the university, I had taken some drama classes and that proved useful. After that workshop, I kept thinking about drama and performance and then, towards the end of my service, I did some soul searching and decided I was going to go back to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York to study drama. I got in and that was where everything started.
5. Niniola
Finally, Nigerian singer Niniola is another celebrity who used to be a school teacher. According to Niniola, if she was not doing music, she would have still been a school teacher. Niniola said:
If I wasn’t singing I would be a teacher because I am an educationist, I love to teach. I worked as a teacher for a while. I taught during my teaching practice at Clegg Girls Secondary School, Surulere, Lagos. I taught there for a while before going to my dad’s school where I became a supervisor before I went into music
6. Denrele Edun
Eccentric actor, presenter, and provocateur Denrele Edun when talking about his interest in having children revealed that he too used to be a teacher. He said:
I understand children more than many people out there. I know I act like them because there is a little kid in all of us and may be because I used to be a teacher. I took up a teaching job after I left secondary school and I read English Education at the University of Lagos. So I understand the behavioural pattern of kids. And children love that I can understand and listen to them.
Wow! Denrele, Ozzy, Niniola, Sam Dede, Saka, and Yousef all used to be teachers. Which one of them surprised you the most? Let me know by leaving a comment either below or on my Facebook post. I’d love to hear what you think.
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