Without any shred of doubt, Sola Sobowale is a veteran actress with huge talent. Many would remember her as Toyin Tomato in Wale Adenuga’s hit TV series, Super Story. She is the effervescent character who could blend from one volatile act to another. Just when the movie viewing audience could not get enough of her she disappeared into thin air!
“Has Sola dumped acting?”, was the question on the lips of many. Now she is back, doing what she knows how to do best and currently stars in a new series called ‘Nectar’ showing every Monday on AIT at 7:00PM with a repeat every Sunday at 9:30PM. In this exclusive interview, she talks about her absence from Nollywood, acting and more.
You’ve been off the movie scene for a while, are you fully back?
I never left, I only changed my base. Even when I was living in the UK, I still come home and do what I know how to do best. I still act and produce and presently, I’m developing a script.
What are you currently working on?
I’m on a soap opera called ‘Nectar’ and we’ve fully recorded up to Season 3. It is showing presently on AIT.
Are you working on any movie besides the soap?
I just finished one called ‘Bose ye kori’
You’ve featured in over 200 films, how many of them have you produced?
I can’t count, but I’ll just say close to 50
You act with so much passion and conviction, what is your staying power?
First of all, I’m from a disciplined home. My late father was a retired school principal and my mom was a retired head teacher. We were taught that ‘what is worth doing is worth doing well’. This is what I’m ordained to do, this is what I love doing and when you’re doing something you love, you need to put in all your effort and energy. You must be focused, know your onions and know what you want to do. That is why you see me working like this.
Can you give a list of your best TV productions?
I’m not going to say one, I would say all. You know why? Because if I don’t love something, you can’t find me there and I endorse what I do. It is not every script that comes to my table that I do because my own job is not for people to just come and see something that has no meaning. I get involved in stories that people would learn from and if you know me very well and have been following my stories and seen my movies, you will notice that everything I do has to do with family. I do proper drama and all this drama I do has to touch everybody; fathers, mothers, young ones, everybody. All I do is make-believe and at the same time it is what happens in our society both locally and internationally. I thank God for Super Story. A lady walked up to me in Abuja and said “Thank you very much Toyin Tomato, you saved my marriage” I said “what do you mean by that?” She said that her husband was like Suara and there was someone out there like proper Toyin Tomato that was taking him away. She then called her husband to watch Super Story and he settled down, watched, listened and saw the whole thing and he came back home. I’m very happy that I could touch that woman’s life.
