July 20, (THEWILL) – Veteran Nollywood actor, Jim Iyke, has revealed how his father went against his decision to go into acting.
He made this known during an interview with media personality, Chinasa Anukam on her show, ‘Is This Seat Taken’.
The actor revealed that his father sent him out of the house at a young age over his love for acting.
According to the movie star, his father wanted him to get a Masters degree after he finished his first degree when he was 18 years.
Iyke noted that he was an A student and that as a child to Igbo parents, they had decided how his life should go.
“I was a straight A student. You know Igbo parents, they decide your life before you are born and probably after you die if they outlive you. I was about 18 and a half when I finished my first degree. The idea was, ‘Get your MBA.’ That was the whole plan. My dad’s boss is American, so he already had a setup. And I came home one day and said, ‘I think I really want to be an actor.”
However, his father kicked against the idea of him becoming an actor because he was considered to be a very shy person and his father wondered how an introvert would consider acting as a career.
The actor’s mother, however, was comfortable with his choice. According to the Nollywood star, his mother believed in his dream even before he did despite it not being a tangible thing at the time.
“My dad’s fair argument then was that I’m excruciatingly shy. Now, how come you come out? A well-known introvert comes out to say, ‘You want to be an actor?’ But I think there was something, call it female intuition or whatever. My mother just believed, even before I did. I just saw a glimpse of something that made me believe this is what I wanted to do, but it wasn’t hard-formed.”
Iyke also revealed that his stay at home became strained at the time and one day his father gave him the choice of either leaving his house or staying on the track they had mapped out for him.
However, rather than stay at home and follow his dad’s directive, Iyke decided to leave home and find his own path.
“It became unbearable to stay at home. So much so that one day, my dad woke up and said, ‘Listen, there can’t be two captains on this ship. You either go get this master’s going as quickly as possible. Take one year, go do whatever nonsense you want to do, come back, and then we set the course again or you leave my house.’ So I left”, he stated.
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