- Tobi Makinde, who plays Shina in Nigeria’s “A Tribe Called Judah,” discusses the challenge of playing the role and how his hairdo influenced his portrayal.
Tobi Makinde discussed his experience filming Nigeria’s most successful film, “A Tribe Called Judah”.
Tobi Makinde plays Shina in the popular film A Tribe Called Judah. He said the part was challenging because he had never played it in a film.
Tobi said he already played a mobster and had to study the role. When he was handed the part, he thought of controversial singer Habeeb Okikiola, known as Portable.
He told Legit.ng in an exclusive interview that he needed to draw inspiration from the controversial “Zazoo Zehh” crooner to play Shina. He also addressed how his hairdo affected some people’s perception of him.
“The character Shina stretched me creatively in the sense that I had to enter another realm, a realm that I had never been to before. Actors draw inspiration from so many things. Some draw from past experiences, and some draw from the experiences of other people”
“For me, I had to pick a reference and it was Singer Portable because when I saw the character that was being created, I felt that he was the best reference to use to interpret the role. I had to do to follow Portable on social media to watch his videos. He makes me laugh and I learned a lot from watching him do his thing. I also had to pull a lot of street language to bring the character to life.”