Yemi Blaq is not the kind of actor you see in a movie and the memory of his performance or look fades out almost immediately.  With a skin as black as a charcoal and big eyeballs that some would describe as sexy, he registers in the mind of his viewers.  That is certainly not all  that is to him as an actor.  He plays his roles well that you would bet, he acts what he is in real life.  In this interview, he spoke with FUNMI ELUGBAJU on his acting career, his background and what has made him tick.  Excerpts: 

Can you let us into your background?
I am from a family of seven, which includes my parents because there are five of us. Three guys and two girls, I always say that because before I came into the picture there were two girls and then the guys followed. I am the last child of my family, my parents are alive and all my siblings are alive and kicking.  In fact some of them are kicking too much because I have a brother who majors in karate, taekwondo and traditional Chinese kungfu; that’s a story for another time. I have always loved arts. I have always been an actor and I’m not one who will just dabble into arts.  This is where I have always wanted to be and this is where I am. I have a background in Theatre Arts in University of Benin and here I am, that is my background. I am from Ondo town and both my parents are from Ondo town. If you go down my lineage everyone must have probably  been from Ondo town.

What was growing up like for you?
Growing up was fun, unfortunately my memory is a bit tip top. I have memories of my first day in school and mum always wondered how I remembered because I was very young. She thought I would cry and she wanted me to cry but I just walked in there and I blended and I waved at her.  That made me independent and seriously so.  I am nomadic by nature but I’m learning to settle down a bit.

Your diction is superb.  Did you do a professional course abroad?
I would love to actually and by the virtue of the work that I do I understand  the art,  whether the visual, graphic or otherwise, it  is a medium of communication and to communicate effectively you need to have the right tools of language. If you are speaking the visual arts you have to speak language fluently and if you are an actor, a broadcaster or a singer you need to have a firm grasp of your language of communication so as to be able to optimally utilise it.

Why did you decide to be an actor?
I would pay money to get answers to that question myself because I just always knew I wanted to be an actor. I grew up in a kind of situation where people will tell me stories so that I will tell it to other people, and later on when I started studying Theatre Arts, I realized that was the origin of Theater Arts right there. Theatre arts started from storytelling. It’s about people who will come and live the characters in the stories. An example is the story of the hunch back man who will hunch his back in a bid to tell the story. I realised that I have always been the guy to entertain,  want to get into a party and talk to people and tell them gist and stuffs and just laugh and they will want to come back tomorrow and hear some more.  I guess it’s just a part of me and it’s something we can’t talk about here by virtue of the fact that I have three personalities.

You act mostly in soap operas.  Why is that?
Unfortunately that piece of information is wrong. I have only done two soaps, the first one I did was Domino and after that I was supposed to shoot one before Domino but it never made it to the airwaves because we didn’t finish shooting. It was the same producers of Crime Fighters, the popular TV show, that produced it. After that I shot Domino and after that I shot another one and I don’t think it has started airing too and that’s been all. And I appeared in three episodes of Tinsel as a medical appearance and apart from that I have been doing majorly movies.

What has been your most challenging role?
Most of the time I don’t like people asking me this question because the answer makes me sound like a politician but if I read it in the newspapers somewhere I will say very political but the truth of the matter is that every role is challenging.  Acting is basically a diversion from your person, from who you are, the soul of you, and so if someone gives you a character to play today and it’s a simplest of script, it’s still a challenge to me because I’m going to have to portray that which I am not. Someone saw me sometime ago and called me a wicked man by the virtue of the fact that they had seen a movie I had shot and the movie is entitled Lost to Lust.  That was my first lead role with Mercy Johnson. I played this guy who was very lustful and had chains of girlfriends and will not satisfy my wife sexually. She saw me and she was vexed, she looked at me and said wicked man.  There was another role that I played in Traumatized where I raped Ini Edo and people said the scene was very real and I must be a rapist to have been able to do justice to the role. It gives me joy because I will never rape a woman because I am too confident in myself and in my sexuality to be able to force a woman. I will never pay for it or force anyone. If we are not on the same wave length forget it and that’s it. If I do that and someone thinks it’s real then it shows I have done a good job.

Apart from acting what do you do?
Aside acting I write songs, I hope to be able to have an album out and I hope to be one of the actors that will win an award for acting although I have won a couple for acting in Zuma last year.  I had nominations for AMMA and also Best of Nollywood Awards that just came up and I desire to be the first to win an award for acting and singing at the same time. I also play the musical instrument and it’s called big boxing and (he makes sounds with his mouth) and I play the conga too.

Who are your role models in the industry?
That’s something I have never had. I don’t do role models. I just have a few people that I like their work.  I just appreciate that they are good.

What is left for you to achieve?
There is a whole lot to achieve. I want to be in the fore front of the movement that shows the whole world that Nollywood is not just about figures or the muscle population and the mass of the movies we turn out but the artistic integrity of every single work that comes out. I want to be in the forefront that shows the world that we are not just there but we are story tellers who understand the art of movie making and there is a whole lot to be achieved.

What will you spend your last kobo on?
If I had a last kobo I would probably give it out, to save myself from thinking about what to buy.

What food will make your day?
I don’t have a favorite, I don’t have a favorite kind of woman, I don’t have a favorite actor or a favorite car. If it’s good it’s good, trust me if you make me vegetable soup with the attachment I will probably be game, if you make me plantain and egg, when it’s nice it’s nice.  So, I am not a favorite food kind of person.
Are you married?
No, I am not.

Any special woman in your life?
Yeah, she is a writer and a producer and her name is Remi.

What makes you tick?
Apart from my heart which ticks all day (laughs)? It’s just the fact that I know that human existence is not based on what you achieve or what we know or how intellectual we are but on the fact that we are involved in a daily struggle for that which is everlasting which is the knowledge of God, the knowledge of the fact that at the end of this all, we are going to a place that is far better and far more everlasting. It’s eternity where we have three scores in ten years to prepare for.  That’s what makes me tick to fight the battle because it’s not easy. I am a Christian and I want to be more of a Christian than I am now. I just want to be more and I am involved in that daily struggle because the truth of the matter is that we are in darkness and so we need to find a way to get to the place that everything will be good for ever.

What is your most embarrassing moment?
I’m going to say this just because of the fans that might want to hear it because the truth of the matter is I am not easily embarrassed.  When I was born and I cried out, the nearest doctor bought my shame. There was this day that I went to the pool with my mother in Shell in Warri, he bought me a pair of trunks.  So, I went to the pool side and I put on the shower and showered and as I walked down to enter the pool I noticed that everyone was looking at me and pointing and I looked at myself and I saw the colors of my trunks was running down my legs and it was really embarrassing.  Everyone looked at me and pointed but I knew how to handle situations and so I walked calmly back to the shower and showered.  So, the more I stood there the more the colours ran and after a while there was no more colour and it become boring because I wasn’t acting jittery or shaking or anything like that and so people got bored and after sometime they went about their activities.

What are the benefits you have enjoyed as an actor?
I do not understand about being a star, I know I am an actor and that is my job description but in the past few weeks there has been fuel scarcity and most of the time when I get to stations they just put me right ahead of the queue. I don’t ask to be there because I would rather just join the queue and be like everyone else but hey they say there are vessels unto honour and if they call me honour I’m not going to dodge it, I would just say thank you.  So, it’s just that people recognise you and want to do something nice.

What inspires you?
I draw inspiration from life.  Everywhere I go I find something that inspires me. I’m a kind of person that can walk by and people are fighting and I just want to stay there and watch or people are talking I just want to stay there and watch. That’s me and that’s my job. I love to watch people. I can tell a lot about people by merely watching them. I think life is very interesting.

Do you have any New Year resolution?
I am not a resolution kind of guy. I don’t have any resolution. I just pray that I become a better person this year and like I said earlier I believe a human being is a work in progress and I think I am constantly evolving and constantly cutting the struggle to be better.  That’s what I am hoping to achieve this year:   To be slightly better, impact people and put a smile on someone’s face.

How did you get to be a part of Celebrity Takes Two?
I got a phone call in Asaba and someone said hello Yemi, would you like to be in Celebrity Takes Two? And I said is it the dance show and he said yes and I said first of all I didn’t know my ability as a dancer because you know this is not my thing but I guess to be an actor you have to have a bit of this and that sprinkled in you.  So, he called me a couple of times, we spoke back and forth and I later accepted the challenge and here I am in the semi finals already.  I am going to the finals, until last week I had the highest cumulative score, so I guess I must be a better dancer than I give myself credit for and also my instructor is a marvelous human being. Funke Sodade, watch out Nigeria, watch out world for that name. She is absolutely brilliant.

You are up for eviction, what are your plans to remain in the game?
Yes, I am up for eviction this week but I’m pretty confident that the Almighty God will do his miracle and we are almost through with our rehearsals for our final Argentine dance and tango .

Where do you relax?
Home, I’m not a club person because when I go there I can be very bored with all the dancing and all but I’m a game person.

What do you think is left for the Nigerian movie industry to achieve?
What they need to achieve is the infusion of art in movie making. We need it. Movie making is not a purely commercial venture. You need to put a lot of show as in showbiz and art to get the business going.  That’s all we need to do right now; we are doing well but there is a lull in the industry at the moment.  It should be expected but the truth of the matter is that what should be done is to get the government to be involved in the movie making process so as to be able to stop the scourge and piracy that is eating deep into everybody’s pocket. Piracy needs to be reduced to the barest minimum or stopped and once that is achieved, the last thing is an establishment of a very solid distribution network.  So, once that part is there piracy is handcuffed and if we have a strong distribution network then trust me actors will probably start building houses in the moon and people will enjoy the movies that they see because there will be quality control in acting, directing and every facet of production.

What message do your have for your fans?
I want to say thank you for appreciating me for what I do, for standing by me through thick and thin throughout the years; thanks for having me back in Celebrity Takes Two and every other venture that I have been involved in and I just need you to imperatively believe in yourselves as human beings because the truth of the matter is that every human being has a potential to be great and all you need do is to look inside yourself and bring it out.