Nigerian actor, Timini Egbuson stated that he is the biggest actor in Africa in a recent episode of the Menisms Podcast.
Egbuson refers to his 15 years of experience in the Nigerian film industry as one of the reasons he can boldly declare himself the best. “I genuinely believe if you put everything that I have done and everything that I have been able to accomplish, I believe that I’m the biggest actor in Africa,” he expressed.
His career has taken him from acting in television shows like Tinsel and MTV Shuga: Naija to the highest-grossing Nigerian film A Tribe Called Judah. He won the 2020 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA) for Best Actor in a Drama for his work in Elevator Baby.
He also shared that he has been able to help other leading male actors rise to the stars that they are now. In his words: “I believe that I genuinely opened up the way for a lot of new school young actors. I also believe that I opened up the leading male young actor category. Because when I joined Nollywood there were no lead roles for like younger [man], you either had to be an old man or like a young babe… No one was actively writing lead roles for young men.”
According to him, a good amount of big-shot male actors in the industry have benefitted from his help and connections at one point or the other.
“Any big name that you can think of in your head, I have done it for them. But the problem and the mistake that they make is they come out here, and instead of them to come out with the mentality of gratitude. And that’s why you don’t know about it because they are not talking about it and they are not coming out from a place of gratitude for this Og. Rather, they are coming out here, with what do I need to do to compete”.
Egbuson also confirmed his leap from acting into the directorial space, announcing that the debut would be out shortly.