Veteran Yoruba actor Shola Akintunde, popularly known as Lagata, has opened up about an unexpected downside of the criminal characters that helped establish his reputation in the Yoruba movie industry, revealing that his strong association with villains has increasingly affected his chances of securing brand partnerships.
Lagata made the disclosure during a recent interview on Oyinmomo TV, aired on YouTube on September 1, 2026, where he reflected on the evolution of his acting career and the public perception that has followed him because of the roles he has played over the years. According to the actor, the characters that audiences have come to recognise him for on screen do not always translate positively into opportunities away from the film set.
The actor’s comments highlight the complicated relationship between an entertainer’s professional image and the characters that make that entertainer popular. While portraying criminals and intimidating figures has helped Lagata establish a distinctive identity as a performer, he said the same image can become a disadvantage when companies consider celebrities for promotional campaigns.
Lagata explained that he did not deliberately build his career around criminal roles. Instead, he said his association with such characters began from his earliest experience in front of a camera. His first acting scene reportedly required him to portray a thug, and the performance impressed people within the industry enough for him to be encouraged to continue developing in that direction.
He recalled that Sola Aderounmu and his boss were among those who noticed his suitability for the roles. They reportedly encouraged him to pay particular attention to criminal characters, believing that his physical appearance, including his height and strong facial features, made him convincing when playing intimidating figures.
For Lagata, therefore, the path was not the result of a conscious decision to become a specialist villain actor. Rather, it developed from how other industry figures responded to his early performances. The positive reactions he received helped establish a pattern that eventually became one of the most recognisable aspects of his career.
The actor also identified veteran Yoruba performer Dele Odule as another person who played an important role in strengthening his confidence during the early stages of his career. Lagata recalled that Odule was sufficiently impressed by one of his portrayals of a criminal character to personally reach out and encourage him.
That early encouragement appears to have reinforced Lagata’s willingness to explore the type of roles for which he would later become widely recognised. Over time, his performances as criminals and other threatening characters became closely connected with his screen identity, making him a familiar presence in Yoruba-language productions.
However, Lagata’s recent comments show that professional recognition in one area of entertainment does not necessarily guarantee opportunities across the wider commercial industry. He said the image created by years of playing criminals has created difficulties when it comes to attracting brands that want entertainers who can represent their products or services.
The actor recounted an encounter that particularly affected him. According to Lagata, a man once told him that, if guns were legalised in Nigeria, he would have been considered for a role promoting them. The remark left the actor shaken because it demonstrated how strongly his on-screen identity had influenced the way at least one person perceived him outside the fictional world of filmmaking.
Although criminal roles are part of the storytelling tradition of many films, Lagata’s experience demonstrates the extent to which audiences can sometimes blur the boundary between a performer and the characters portrayed by that performer. An actor may be playing a fictional criminal as part of a script, yet repeated appearances in similar roles can eventually become associated with the actor’s public persona.
For Lagata, this association has become particularly important because of the commercial value attached to celebrity image. Brands often select public figures not only because of their popularity but also because of how their personalities and public identities fit the message a company wants to communicate. An actor whose screen identity is strongly associated with violence, crime or intimidation may therefore encounter a different set of considerations when seeking endorsement opportunities.
Lagata’s revelation also provides insight into how actors can become typecast within the Nigerian film industry. Once a performer demonstrates an ability to convincingly portray a particular character type, filmmakers may continue to offer similar roles because audiences already associate that performer with the character.
That process can be beneficial at one stage of a career. A recognisable character type can make an actor memorable and create steady demand for performances within that category. But it can also make it harder for the performer to demonstrate versatility if producers and viewers continue to expect the same type of portrayal.
Lagata now appears determined to challenge that perception. He said he is working towards broadening the kinds of characters he plays, with the aim of ensuring that his career is not permanently defined by the criminal roles that initially brought him recognition.
His desire to take on different roles represents an effort to reshape both his professional identity and the way audiences perceive him. Rather than abandoning the performances that established his name, the actor is seeking to demonstrate that his ability extends beyond the intimidating figures that have become synonymous with his screen presence.
The distinction between an actor and a character remains central to Lagata’s experience. His criminal roles are fictional performances created within movie narratives, but their repeated portrayal has contributed to a real-world perception that can influence how people interact with him and how commercial opportunities are presented to him.
His account also underscores the importance of versatility in a competitive entertainment industry. For performers who become strongly identified with a particular archetype, demonstrating the ability to convincingly portray different personalities can be important in expanding their professional opportunities.
Lagata’s case is especially notable because the roles he was encouraged to pursue at the beginning of his career were not necessarily roles he had selected for himself. The advice of more experienced figures helped direct him towards a character type that suited his appearance and performance style, eventually turning it into a defining feature of his career.
Yet the actor now finds himself confronting the other side of that success. What once helped him stand out as a performer can also create assumptions about his personality and suitability for work outside fictional storytelling.
His comments therefore offer a candid reflection on the consequences of typecasting in Nollywood. Success in portraying a villain can bring recognition, but it may also require an actor to work deliberately to convince audiences and potential commercial partners that the performance does not represent the person behind the character.
Lagata’s decision to pursue a wider variety of roles could allow him to gradually establish a more diverse screen identity. By moving beyond the criminal archetype, he can demonstrate a broader acting range while also challenging the perception that has followed him throughout much of his career.
The actor’s experience comes against a broader backdrop of the risks that can accompany filmmaking in Nigeria, where actors sometimes find themselves involved in productions dealing with crime, cultism and violence. In some cases, fictional scenes can also create unexpected tensions when filming takes place in real communities.
An example involving another Yoruba actor, Yomi Olorunlaiye, illustrates the hazards that can arise when fictional portrayals of violence intersect with real-world circumstances. Olorunlaiye previously recounted an incident in Ikire, Osun State, where he was filming alongside Yomi Fash-Lanso and Kunle Afod when hoodlums armed with machetes attacked the production.
According to Olorunlaiye’s account, the confrontation resulted in injuries to members of the cast and crew and eventually led to a legal dispute that lasted almost three months. The incident demonstrated that productions dealing with certain themes can sometimes encounter dangers beyond the scripted events being filmed.
Olorunlaiye also recalled another incident in Ikorodu, Lagos, involving a cult-themed production. According to his account, tension arose because the actors’ costumes and the date of the filming coincided with a celebration involving a real confraternity.
The incidents involving Olorunlaiye provide a different perspective on the relationship between fictional crime narratives and real-life circumstances. While Lagata’s concern centres primarily on how repeated criminal roles affect his personal and commercial image, Olorunlaiye’s experience highlights situations in which the subject matter or appearance of a production can generate tension during filming.
For Lagata, however, the immediate challenge is one of perception. After years of playing convincing criminals, he wants audiences and potential commercial partners to recognise that his abilities extend far beyond those characters.
His latest disclosure suggests that the actor is increasingly conscious of the need to separate his professional identity from the villains he portrays. The roles may have helped establish his name, but he does not want them to become a permanent limitation on his career.
As he pursues a broader range of characters, Lagata’s next phase in the industry could therefore focus less on being identified solely as the convincing criminal and more on proving himself as a versatile actor capable of handling different dimensions of storytelling.
The journey also reflects an unusual reality of acting: a performance can be so convincing that the success of the portrayal begins to influence how the performer is viewed in real life. For Lagata, that success has brought recognition, but it has also come with consequences he says he did not anticipate when he first stepped onto a movie set as a young actor playing a thug.
Actor Shola Akintunde Lagata Reveals How Criminal Roles Are Affecting His Brand Opportunities
