Nigerian movie superstar Segun Arinze, born Segun Padonou Aina, has recalled how constantly playing bad characters in movies nearly ruined his career.

He spoke to Korku Lumor on the Class Morning Show, Friday, October 6, 2023.

“There is a time I took a sabbatical from acting, when the playing of bad roles was getting to me. People were beginning to look at me as a demon. And when they travelled abroad, they wouldn’t take me along,” he narrated.

Alarmed, he questioned what was going on. Eventually, he said, “I took a two-year hiatus.”

In this period of casting drought, he revealed it was “voice-overs that kept me going”.

He noted that being a voice actor helped him pay school fees.

Two years after venturing into voice acting, he recalled “Guinness came calling.” He did a show for the popular beer brand “and they took me all the way to South Africa and I did the show for two years”.

He intimated that from here, his career resumed an upward trajectory.

“I’ll never forget this Charles Novia called me,” he said, adding that there was a role the star Nigerian movie producer originally wanted to give another actor but “he felt I could do it”.

According to Arinze, this role took him to Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

“I played the role in Atlanta, and that was the turning point. Everything just changed,” he said.

The Creative Director for Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) admitted that “there are certain roles you might not be suited for but there is no harm in trying it. I did it.”

The tough times and adventures in South Africa and Atlanta, Segun Arinze, alias Black Arrow, insinuated, made him a versatile actor.

“I did it, and I’m very glad that it has turned out this way. So today, I can sit down and play any role that I want to play, not just being a stereotype,” he said.

He warned, “Being a stereotype in African can kill you. It can mess you up, because when they are done [with you] – it’s like sucking an orange – they suck all the juice out of you and dump you and look for the next orange to suck.”

From experience, he urged: “So as an actor, you must always know how to reinvent yourself. It’s a sharp bend. There’s always a sharp bend in your career as an actor or even as a human. So know when to slow down, approach the curve, and go around the curve in a nice, smooth way so that you don’t go off a cliff.”

“And that’s what I did with my career,” the movie icon and singer asserted in conclusion.