MY EYES ARE ON THE GOAL- DEJI OMOGBEHINMI

Shoots.ng Animashaun Samiat Ayomide caught up with a seasoned and cross over Nollywood actor, Deji Omogbehinmi and the great role interpreter answered our organic SLATE TEN questions in a telephone interview.

It is a concise and tasty appetizer to stimulate your appetite.

Enjoy it.

 

SLATE 10: Which among your works (films) is your favourite and why?

Deji Omogbehinmi: They are all my favourites because I put in my best practically, and I have no favourite, they are all my favourites .

SLATE 10: What inspires your creativity?

Deji Omogbehinmi: Quite a few things actually. Things I see around inspire my creativity. And what I do is… even when I am moving on the road , when I see a mad person , I look at the mad person, I study the mannerism of the mad person, just in case I am being given the role of a mad person . Even when I see tout on the road, the way they move, the way they talk, their mannerism I look at them .

So all of this inspires my creativity , it brings out the creativity in me . Even  when I see a small child , I look at the child , I take a good study of the child and every other thing. So, the happenings around inspire my creativity.

SLATE 10:  If you are not doing what you are doing as a profession now, what would you have done?

Deji Omogbehinmi: Well, I am an actor and at the same time into real estate. So, If I was not an actor, I would definitely be a singer. Yes because I love creativity, I love entertainment and I am in the entertainment world. So, I would have been a singer because I play musical instrument and I also sing a lot. I’m not taking my singing that seriously, I’m not commercializing it .

 

SLATE 10: If you could go back in time and tell a younger version of yourself one thing, what would you tell?

Deji Omogbehinmi: If I have to go back in time, I have to tell the younger version of myself  ‘O boy,  be more focused’. I would have been more focused than I was. I would have started everything early enough. In fact, in school, I would have studied more. So, if I have to tell my younger version something, I would say ‘young man, study like no tomorrow, work hard like no tomorrow, start everything you want to do  early and work hard at it’. Those times, when we were staying with our parents and they were giving us money, to some extent they spoilt us.  They should have stopped giving us money at some point, maybe at 15. We would have started making money and doing all of those things. So, I will tell my younger version that, please start early, start learning one or two skills alongside your education so that you can be a great person.

SLATE 10: If your biography is to be commissioned , what will you want as the title and why?

Deji Omogbehinmi: It will just be FOCUS. Focus will be the title. Because going through everything I have been through ,I think it is really realistic to be focused. I am telling you, it is really realistic to be focused.

SLATE 10: On your career, what is it that you want to put straight to the press/public and for the records?

Deji Omogbehinmi: Yes, I think I will just like to put it straight to the public not to castigate us. They should see us, especially actors, they should see us as a normal people, like themselves. They should not castigate us. They should support us in every way. Because to some people, they see actors as irresponsible people and as such they do not want to support in anyway.

Do you know that, if you get to some homes now as an actor and you say you want to marry a particular girl, they will not allow you, because they think we are irresponsible. So I just want to put it straight to the public to support us , we are not animal, we are not irresponsible people. So, they need to support us.

SLATE 10: How do you cope with opposite sex and what do you have to tell them ?

Deji Omogbehinmi: I try to manage around them and be scandal free. I am a married man, so I stay very far away from scandals. I know opposite sex would go after actors and entertainers they admire, but one has to be careful. So, I cope, I smile with them and when I have to run, I run (smiles). I try to manage them.

I will just tell them to stay focused and they should just realise the woman in them, and they should stay strong and not get scattered, not get used. They should just stay focused.

SLATE 10: What is your bad habit ?

Deji Omogbehinmi: I’m a foodie. I can go on the street, see groundnut, I will buy and be eating it. If I also see corn, I will buy it and be chewing it on the road. (chuckles). I am that kind of a person. It’s a bad habit I know.

SLATE 10: Do you enjoy your celebrity status ?

Deji Omogbehinmi: I think I do to some extent. You know, the fact that you don’t have your privacy, everything you do is public, that’s the part that I do not tend to like.

I enjoy it because a lot of people get to celebrate you, sometimes you get gifts for a good job you have done. And people recognise you, they acknowledge you. So, all of those things make it enjoyable. Sometimes, you are in a supermarket buying something, you see a fan pay for all you have bought, and all of those things. Your car breaks down and people run to help you, it’s quite enjoyable.

SLATE 10: What haven’t you been asked before?

Deji Omogbehinmi: Mmmmm… Let me think. … Ha…I don’t know…I think they have asked all necessary questions. Right now, I can not really place a question they have not asked me that I will want them to ask me. There could be, but I can not place one at the moment.

POST SCRIPT– The bearded handsome Deji, a Geologist from University of Ilorin by training is a model, corporate compere, writer, voice over artiste, singer, proof reader, music instructor, multi-instrumentalist, orator and realtor.

 

Picture credits: @dejiomogbehinmi IG page