Moses Akerele, also known as Ogbeni Mo’, describes himself as a lover of the arts. His career in the media has seen him working as a content contributor for blogs,radio, and television. He has also starred in such productions as MTV ‘Shuga’, ‘Walking with Shadows’, ‘Industreet’with the latest being ‘Mirabel’ an adaptation of his poem by the same title. The graduate of University of Benin speaks with Adetutu Audu on life as an artiste and sundry issues
YOUR poem, ‘Mirabel’ has just been made into a short film. How does that make you feel?
Honestly I’m super excited, I’m not sure I can show enough how really excited I am. I didn’t see it coming, at least not like this. I had plans for my poems, I was going to add pictures someday, but this came unexpectedly even though it’s in line with some of the plans I have.Itcame on a totally different level and it just leaves me short of words. I was just writing for fun and for the love of birthing situations in my head and weaving them out in words for people to read. In all, I feel very excited, honoured and I appreciate the gesture and interest.
What was your experience on the set of Mirabel?
Beautiful! I worked with senior colleagues who were so sweet, they made me feel at home, it was an experience I won’t forget in a hurry, I watched awesome talented people bring life to my poem, I worked with people whose energy and talent are contagious and it was a very cool way to start the year.I also had the opportunity to work with some of the youngest yet, finest film crew. Generally it was lovely on the set of ‘Mirabel’.We were like a family.
It seems this is your first major production. Is it something you’d want to do again?
I’ve been a part of a couple productions in the film industry prior to ‘Mirabel’, I was on set of MTV ‘Shuga’ for 2 months in 2017. I was also in ‘Walking with Shadows’, ‘Industreet’ amongst a few others, but ‘Mirabel’is personal to me since I wrote the original poem.The atmosphere was different; it was Major as it was my first time playing lead. I felt connected to every part of the production.Soyes, it’s definitely something I’d want to do again.
When did you make the decision to become an actor?
A very long time ago, as a child I admired a lot of child actors and I always wanted to be like them, but I didn’t exactly know how to make that happen, although I was always in the church and school dramas, I just remained hopeful that one day, I’d know more and find my way into the film industry.I wasn’t sure If I wanted to tell my family that it was something I wanted to do because I wasn’t sure what their reactions will be back then, so I focused on my education and just waited for a time to make my move. But you know in life, planning is key. Year after year I just looked forward to when I’d get a chance.
I kept the hope alive, auditioned myself severally, watched and learned, honing my skills in the littlest ways possible.
Life happened and I went to practice media, which by the way is my first love.I took a shot at professional acting when I felt the time was just right! This was mid-2017.
You started out as a media personality. Why didn’t you just stick with that?
I broke out as a media personality because I channelled more effort, time and energy to that part of me first, but prior to that I had done a few things since leaving secondary school.
However, like I stated earlier, media is the first love and for me, hence my traveling through major genres of it over the years. One key to life is planning properly to achieve your purposes, there are a lot more I want to do, aside being a media personality, a writer and an actor, but I can’t rush them, I don’t want to actually, so I take everything one proper step after the other. I didn’t stick to being just a media personality because that was never the plan, the plan was to grow and keep growing, and acting came knocking just at the RIGHT time. I am a lover of arts.
Why informs such love?
I love the definition of Arts that describes it as the theory and physical expression of creativity found in human societies and cultures. Art in all its forms is beautiful and it just excites me to do, as a child, I thought I’d be an engineer like my father since I pretty much stared using mechanical tools at a very young age.At six, I was already fixing things and wanted to know how some gadgets were put together, but anything that had to do with arts excited me more and I felt drawn to them. As I grew, I practiced all of them at one point or the other.It just brings this joy. And even though I do more of performing and literary arts, I’d always love every aspect of ART.
How did you get cast for MTV Shuga?
‘Shuga’ was definitely one project I wanted to be a part of and every time it looked like I had ruined the chances, I felt very uneasy and unhappy, funny part is I went for the auditions for an international series, so as at the first stage I didn’t know it was for ‘Shuga’.And when it dawned on me, I really didn’t want to not get aboard. In the long run, I scaled through and I am still not sure if I’ve been able to express the excitement to the fullest, it was so good to be true, honestly.
How far did that experience propel your career?
It’s a very good platform and one cannot expect less, more people know me now, my interest in acting as well as my acting prowess, while the latter part is still limited to the cast and crew I worked with since the season is not airing yet, I love the exposure and the room to learn whilst working with various professionals in their various fields, I must say I learnt a lot in two months of filming.
It just put me on a whole different level, being one of the biggest series and one that is more than just a series but a movement, I see huge prospects coming from this.
What would you say are the downsides of being an actor?
Well, this differs as we are different people; we all see and handle things differently. I have heard about many but I haven’t felt any personally, I know they pop up at some point, but for now, there isn’t much I can say about it. I just know I want to keep living my life freely and do me like I want.