Veteran Nigerian actor and filmmaker, Segun Arinze has recounted how he made his first N1000 over 30 years ago in the field of voice acting.
The popular thespian said he got his first voice-over job in 1987, which earned him his first payment at the age of 21.
Segun Arinze stated this during a recent chat with Biola Bayo on the ‘TalktoB’ podcast, adding that he was able to get the voice over gig through renowned broadcaster, Soni Irabor.
The 58-year-old movie star, who shared the story behind his foray into the voice-over industry, disclosed that Irabor introduced him to voice acting.
He said; “Soni Irabor walked in someday and he was looking for a voice-over artiste. There was nobody around that day then he heard me speak.
“Then he said ‘You can do the voice’ Really? I cannot, he said ‘Yes, you can and I will see what you do’. And I did the voice-over. He paid me N1000. That was 1987. N1000 for just doing (voice-over). I said this is big. Coloured TV was N500 at that time.”
Meanwhile, in another news…
Nollywood legend, Chiwetalu Agu earlier revealed that he was offered N10 million to play a role in a movie, but he turned it down. He said the person who made him the juicy offer is billionaire businessman and telecoms mogul, Mike Adenuga.
Chiwetalu made this known during an interview with media personality, Chude where he also explained that at the time, he was yet to make N1 million but insisted on getting N20 million.
According to the seasoned thespian, the business magnate later compromised and gave him the N20 million he requested for, after he threatened to walk away.
Agu said; “Chief Mike Adenuga said, ‘what I have for you in this contract is N10 million.’ I have not seen N1 million before when he was pricing me N10 million but I refused. I said, ‘if it’s not N20 million, forget it.’
“He insisted, I insisted. So, I pretend to rise up and said, ‘give me money to go back to Enugu. If there’s any available flight, book it for me let me just quietly go back.’
“They regarded me to now being serious when I rose up. Chief Mike Adenuga said ‘sit down.’ He ordered them to bring documents for signing. They brought and I signed.
“From that moment uhuru dance started. I did it diplomatically in the office. I didn’t want them to know that N20m was a big deal [to me]. But it was the most wonderful thing [to me] at the moment.”
