I never did. Back in school, I
will feature in seasonal plays
- Christmas - Easter plays and
I will do it like I saw in the
movies; with all the passion
and people will be like “Oh my
goodness, this guy. You’re taking
this too serious” hahaha. That’s
where it started - when peo-
ple kept telling me to consider
acting as a career. I think it
was during time I was wait-
ing to go to the university, so I
branched to National Theatre.
CLS: That might have been a
dream - come -true.
ADJ: Hahaha I guess you can
say that.
CLS: How did you get into
Things You Do For Love?
ADJ: A friend asked me to
follow him to a rehearsal at
GBC during the days of TV
Theatre, they were rehearsing
for a play. I saw Fred Amugi,
Kwame Sefa Kayi - I was really
excited. These are people we
see on TV every day but we
don’t get close to. One of the
casts didn’t show up that day
so the director asked me to
step into the role and help
them rehearse. After every-
thing, I saw him looking at me
then he asked me if I had done
this before but I was like “No,
just school plays” then he said
he was going to give me the
role the next time I show up
but of course I thought that
was joke until, I was given that
role and realized the director
really kept his word. Interest-
ingly, the guy whom I replaced
never showed up. This was my
first TV gig. I was later invited
for a radio play auditions and
that was ‘Things We Do For
Love.’
CLS: In Things We Do For
Love, Pusher was my favorite
character. You played it so
well, was Pusher you?
24| Colossium . December 2018
ADJ: Hahaha I really wish he
was. However, he is what I am
becoming today. Back then it
was purely a technical thing I
had to do for the character to
live and for people to connect
with him. There wasn’t any di-
rect relation between him and
me; in fact we are a contrast.
I was more contained and
reserved, even if you stepped
on my toe I wouldn’t shout but
thankfully I’m no longer that
guy. So I had to put in all the
skills I have learnt over the
years to make the character
work.
CLS: And it did work. Was
there a point of transformation
for you?
ADJ: In the middle of Things
We Do For Love, I knew
there’s a limit to where talent
can take you so I decided to go
back to school. I went back to
school a year before the series
wrapped up. After school, I
worked with a manufacturing
company then I got married.
Back then the film industry
wasn’t paying much so I had to
get another job, don’t forget I’m
married now. After working a
while, I went to Jo’burg to do
my Master’s in Apllied Drama.
Then I got back and revived
my career.
“
It wasn’t my ev-
eryday experience.
We had to learn
Dagbaani and all that.
We had to learn how
to eat their food. It
was an awesome expe-
rience. It gave us the
opportunity to connect
with the people there.”
CLS: You mentioned that the
industry wasn’t paying, has
that changed or improved?
ADJ: Yeah, it is paying now
- comparatively. The other
thing to add is - we are talking
about two different periods
here. The demand for us has
increased. For me it is a matter
of choice when you want to
look at the money. I sometimes
don’t charge my professional
fee from those that have the
potential but no funds; that’s
what led me to do part time
lecturing at NAFTI which is to
help them build their careers.
I find it fulfilling helping these
young guys commercialize
their products and also be sen-
sitive to the content they put
out there.
CLS: You talked about de-
mand. Is the industry meeting
up to the rising demands and
standards?
ADJ: I will say Yes and No. No
because we still have issues.
I always say that even if we
don’t have the needed backing
- the foundation to make our
industry strong - policies and
laws that will create enabling
environment for us - support
that should come from plac-
es like government, we still
owe it to ourselves to make
sure that the products that we
generate amidst all these chal-
lenges are not suspect - are not
something that we can find too
many wrongs with. Therefore
how responsible are we for the
products we are putting out
there?