'I Suffered, Like Real Talk' - Eso Dike Reveals Untold Struggles Behind Acting Career

The path to success most people will tell you is usually a long and harrowing journey. And trying to break into a field as competitive as the entertainment industry, you can already imagine it will come with a lot of struggles and sacrifices.

In a new interview with Nollywood on Radio, Nollywood actor Eso Dike is opening up about his harrowing journey to finding success in Nollywood. Here is what the actor had to say.

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Speaking about the struggles and hard times he faced while trying to make it as an actor, Eso Dike opened up saying:

ESO DIKE: I tell you for free that as an actor, I only started breaking even a few years ago. I mean people thought as soon as I got on TV, as soon as I got on Tinsel , as soon as Bunmi Davies gave me a role in one thing and people saw me here and there, people just immediately think that maybe you're raking in.

And there are times like, I have like a true Lagos story that I might tell one day, but I suffered, like real talk. My family members know. My brother knows cuz he was like firsthand, he saw the suffering. My cousin who I used to stay with at the time living in Ogun state in a building that wasn't complete, I'm not even joking about that. And I don't like to talk about it.

People think that once you appear on TV, it's like a general misconception. I had been on TV for years before I started breaking even. I'd made some money here and there, like little change. But before I broke even to a point where I said okay you know what, let me quit my day job, it took years for that to happen.

Because starting off, you know everybody wants to make you think that they're doing you favors. That's just the way Nollywood works, and I think entertainment, maybe Nigeria in general, everybody wants to make you think that they're doing you favors whereas you are also bringing some value. But you have to understand that. I was always of the opinion that paying your dues or working your way up was a way to go, so I didn't mind.

All the first projects that I did were mostly free or maybe they'll give you like a gratuity fee. I've gotten like a 2k transportation fee before and that's true, that's real talk. So I did a lot of that, but again, in whatever you do, you have to pick and choose your battle. So even when I was doing those things, I knew that okay let me see if I can persevere and see where this leads to and there were so many times that I thought about you know, this is not helping me.

Because when you're a man and you are pursuing something and then, you're not even able to--when your your rent is due or just even like smaller things like food. You'll be thinking: what am I doing?

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