New York-based model-turned-actor Boma Akpore is one of Nigeria’s largest exports to the outside world. Now, he’s excited to be coming home to be a part of the country’s ever-thriving film industry.
An accomplished role model, Akpore ventured into acting after an injury that cut short his career as a professional footballer, just before signing to play against the Scottish Premiership team.
Since then, he has found solace in the fantasy world, having started his acting career with a big break in the NBC crime thriller “The Blacklist.” He also appeared in episode 616 of the critically acclaimed show. The New York Film Academy alumnus recently joined the cast of Hollywood’s first black Egyptian film, ‘Protector Of The Gods.’ He describes his foray into acting as “a dream come true.” In this engaging interview, he talks about his dreams and aspirations, his fears, and his plans to return home to invest in the country’s film industry.
Since you delved into acting, would you say that you have realized your dream?
Since I cut the acting bug, it has been incredible. Acting has given me a new sense of purpose, having had the opportunity to live in 20 countries. Acquire all kinds of experiences that have helped me expand my knowledge. Since I became an actor, whenever I need an experience, I just bring it from my life experience. I love everything I have done since soccer, modeling. Now acting. I love each part, it has just been different. Acting has given me a new sense of drive and purpose, I have been able to tell stories, I have been able to convince people, I have been able to play different characters and different parts of my life. I have realized my dream. I definitely want to do this for a long time. I want to create my own stories and work on my own movies, which I am definitely working on. I love it because it has been a great feeling.
How did you start acting?
A producer saw me at an event and told me that he liked my style and would love to cast me for his next TV series. Soon after, I enrolled in the New York Film Academy and started acting ever since.
Was there a time when you felt like giving up on your dream as a result of frustration and an inability to make a breakthrough?
Surely, there were times when I definitely felt like giving up. As they say, if your dreams don’t kill you, then your dreams aren’t big enough. You need dreams that will kill you, dreams that will seem impossible to achieve. And you have to find a way to convince yourself and all the people around you.
In this type of career that I found myself in, you have to prove yourself every day. There are some careers that you can sustain for a couple of years. But in my kind of career, you have to prove yourself on a daily basis. They use the term “you’re only as good as your last job.” Today, you book this job, and tomorrow you definitely have an audition for something else, and you book another job. In soccer, if you don’t play well, you lose your jersey to someone else. On some teams, when you play in lower professional leagues, if you probably don’t play, it sometimes affects your salary. It also affects your relevance.
Sometimes when it’s difficult for you, you feel like giving up. But that goes back to what inspires you. Why do you do what you do? Your “why” is an important factor in everything you want to do. If you do it for the wrong reasons, it is easier to give up. It is not easier to quit smoking because the reasons are wrong. If you don’t have enough in you to keep fighting when times are not in your favor … Basically, for the reason that you are doing what you are doing, and you are determined, don’t take no for an answer. Be prepared to fail. Failure is the mother of all success. In fact, you learn more from failure than from success.
Every successful person once failed especially, the greater the success, the greater the failure. So the greater you are as a successful person, the greater the failure you will encounter in life. Most of the time, we don’t bring up our failures. Nobody celebrates their failure, everyone keeps it to themselves. Yes, I have had my ups and downs, but I just have to recover and move on because I am determined to succeed.
And what is your advice to young people who look up to you?
My advice to young people is not to abandon your dreams. Believe in yourself, know the reason why you do what you do. Hold on to God and make sure everything will be okay at the end of the day. Keep your head up, focused and determined. Your eyes must be on the price.
You started as a model before getting into football and now acting, what would you say is your driving force?
My driving force has been my environment because we are the products of our environment. Growing up, you see all kinds of things. You see what you want to become and what you do not want to become. My environment and my family have been my driving force. I take my family very seriously. I want to get the best version of myself for them. I just want to give them my best because I saw the sacrifices my mom and grandmother made for me. So, I want to do my best to be the best version of myself for them. Also, the fear of failure keeps me on my toes. I don’t want to live a life that doesn’t fulfill my full potential. I keep moving forward as much as I can. And none of us know our last day, all we know is that we live today and we will see tomorrow. Who knows what we’ll see tomorrow, only God knows. So, I try to live every day as my last day. I go out of my way to give it my all. I am trying to make a mark on the world in a positive way that will affect my generation. God, environment, family, background, and fear of failure have been my driving force until now.
Do you have plans to one day come home to be part of the development of the country’s film industry?
I definitely have plans to go home and do some stories. I go home once a year, usually to see my family and spend time with them. I want to bring some of the experiences home to do some collaborations. Yes, I would have those plans. The script for my short film has already been written as we speak. I was supposed to be in Nigeria last December, but couldn’t attend because I was working on a program at the time.