Nollywood actor Amuda Eko has revealed that he offloaded cartons of cigarettes and took on other menial jobs to survive while pursuing his dream of becoming an actor.

Speaking on the AfricanAList podcast, Eko recounted the challenges he faced in his early days, including financial hardship, public embarrassment and constant criticism from his grandmother.

Taking Menial Jobs to Survive

“I started a porter job, so I began to offload cigarettes, bringing in little money. The money wasn’t enough,” he said.

The actor also shared an incident from his struggling days when he tried to board a commercial bus without paying. He claimed to be a staff member and expected the driver to recognise him.

According to Eko, the driver refused, and a fight broke out. The situation later ended in an unexpected way.

“That was how the driver and conductor gathered money for me to go treat myself,” he said.

“I saw the money and said, ‘This is money.’ I told them to go, put the money in my pocket and jumped into another bus.”

Grandmother Rejected His Acting Dream

Eko said his grandmother strongly opposed his decision to leave tailoring for acting.

Recalling his first movie role as a silent policeman, he said he proudly showed the film to her.

“She said, ‘Is this the rubbish and unfortunate thing that made you leave your tailoring shop? Look at this unfortunate boy. You only acted as a policeman, and you didn’t even say a word. Is this what you’ve been doing?’”

Determined to improve, Eko begged filmmakers to give him a speaking role in his next project. He was eventually allowed to say just one word: “Goodnight”.

Refusing to Give Up

His grandmother remained unimpressed.

“She asked, ‘So this is the movie you acted in? You are the one that said ‘Goodnight?’ Is that why you abandoned your shop for months just to say one word? Goodnight? What exactly can you show for it?’”

“Then she said, ‘We’ll both wait and see.”

Despite the criticism, Eko said he refused to abandon his dream.

“I was beginning to get tired, wondering what I really wanted to do. But my mind became hardened,” he said.

“I told myself I would keep going. If this job is making other people money, it will also make money for me. If it brings wealth to others, it will bring wealth to me too.

“So, I buckled up, became consistent and kept pushing.”

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