First time I saw this extremely hot specie of a man was in Mummy Returns, didn't know he was a Nigerian, until I saw him in Bourne Identity where he spoke the yoruba language a few times.- This guy has come a long way and succeeded where alot of people have failed. I have much respect for any African who manages to break into Hollywood and stays on top.
Here's basically all you need to know about Wale...
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, a former model before turning actor, was born 22 August, 1967 to Nigerian parents, who moved to England, where he was born.
The 6 '2' hunk has four sisters and is fluent in several languages, including English, Italian, Yorùbá and Swahili
Wale holds a Master of Law from the University of London, and is said to be a practising Buddhist.
He is most famous for portraying the criminal Simon Adebisi in the HBO prison series Oz, as well as Mr. Eko on the second season of ABC's survivor drama Lost. I saw him in lost, his acting skills was incredible.
His film credits include: Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) Congo (1995)The Clairvoyant 1995
Legionnaire 1998
Luther 2001, Lip Service 2001, The Mummy Returns (2001)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Unstoppable 2004
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005).
Mistress of Spices 2005
On the One 2005
Things you probably didn't know about him Went from playing Ernie Hudson's good friend, the guide Kahega to Hudson's Capt. Munro in Congo, to playing his enemy, the sociopathic Adebisi to Hudson's hard-headed Warden Glynn in Oz.
He is fluent in several languages including Italian, Yoruba, French, Swahili, and English.
Is a Buddhist and admitted that he had to chant more than usual while playing the brutal character of Majestic in GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' (2005).
Nickname: Triple A / Wally
Once read the traditional prayer, the 23rd Psalm, before the Hawaii State Senate.
A former male fashion model.
Born on the same day as the Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley.
The meaning of his name is broken down thus: Ade- the crown, wale- has come home, Akin- warrior, nuoye- of chieftaincy, Agbaje prosperity and wealth.
He has played almost entirely African characters despite having been born and raised in England. He usually employs a deep, Nigerian timber while acting, while off-screen he has a very British, somewhat Cockney accent.
Also, both parents are dead. What I don't know is if he's married or has any kids.
Wale is an inspiration to a lot of Nigerians and I say kudos to him.
26 comments:
This guy is hot abeg. But he ain't married. Didn't now he was that old.Sorry about his parents
The guy is not a great actor.How many awards has he won.When ur talking about great african, mention jimon honsou not wale pls
i don't think he's married but he was in lagos this past weekend, saw him at newscafe. he's alright, not really that hot, just aiight.
what the heck is this annonymous person talking about?
have watched Lost at all?any of his movies?he's very good at what he does abeg and he is HOT. How many movies did eddie murphy act but if he does not have an award he's not a great actor?
nigerians sabi hate,dont hate,emulate-and he has an LLM too,thts not beans
The guy is just ok,hes not a fantastic actor,jimon is better.
y must we keep trying to water down his success and waht does this have to do with djimon?????????????
'he's just ok','he's not a great actor'-na wa o. please appreciate the guy or leave story-he's successful whether u think he's a great or ok actor.big ups to you for featuring him!
am not surprised there r alot of haters of wale....naijas..we know how to dat best..put ur own down and praise another!.....
the Guy is good!..if u dnt know him...shut up!..watch LOST.. or any of his other films....lindas post is about CELEBRATING him!...not comparing him Jimon Honsou or any other 'great' african actors!...take a breather y'all...
Linda,
You have got the game sista keep posting all the informative gists i beg... i have already sent u a personal mail regarding Wale .. i know him personally , i have great admiration for him..i have featured in his movie with wesley snipes (Unstoppable) though i featured as an extra (baltimore police) sorry jare sebi na WAKA PASS dem call extras for Nollywood?:)) Wale is a cool and superb actor don't mind all these yeye playa haters that's d syndrome with naija-complex & mentality.. instead of some us to appreciate one of our own and celebrate some of our stars , na to downgrade them we sabi ..
I promise i go send u Wale's email but don't share it online with all these haters cos they might start contacting d guy to 419 him ooo.:))))
Stay blessed Sista...
More on Adewale:
Year Result Award Category/Recipient(s)
2006 Nominated Saturn Award Best Supporting Actor on Television
for: "Lost" (2004)
Image Awards
Year Result Award Category/Recipient(s)
2001 Nominated Image Award Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
for: "Oz" (1997)
2000 Nominated Image Award Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
for: "Oz" (1997)
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Year Result Award Category/Recipient(s)
2006 Won Actor Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
for: "Lost" (2004)
Shared with:
Naveen Andrews
Emilie de Ravin
Matthew Fox
Jorge Garcia
Maggie Grace
Josh Holloway
Malcolm David Kelley
Daniel Dae Kim
Yunjin Kim
Evangeline Lilly
Dominic Monaghan
Terry O'Quinn
Harold Perrineau
Michelle Rodriguez
Ian Somerhalder
Cynthia Watros
------------------------
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
film; television actor; model
Personal Information
Born on August 22, 1967, in London, England
Education: Kings College, University of London, Master of Laws (LLM), 1991.
Career
Model and dancer in magazines and music videos, based in Milan, Italy, in the early 1990s; actor, 1995-.
Life's Work
British-born actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje came late to screen acting and made his movie debut in Congo (1995). He has since appeared in The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Bourne Identity (2002), but he is best known as Simon Adebisi in the edgy HBO-TV prison drama Oz (1997-2000) and as "Mr. Eko" in ABC's Lost (2004-). Despite his British accent, Akinnuoye-Agbaje often plays African characters and rarely appears on screen using his everyday voice. In 2005 he also appeared alongside Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in the rapper's debut movie, Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was born on August 22, 1967, in London, England, to parents who had immigrated to the United Kingdom from Nigeria. At just six weeks old he went to live with foster parents in Nigeria and as a child he shared his time between there and London. He returned to London permanently at the age of 15 and later attended King's College, University of London, funding his own way through college with modeling work. He graduated with a master's degree in law and in 1992 was featured in several music videos, including "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" by En Vogue and "Love No Limit" by Mary J. Blige. Akinnuoye-Agbaje made his break into American TV in 1994, making brief appearances in episodes of Cracker and New York Undercover. Akinnuoye-Agbaje speaks several languages, including Italian, Swahili, English, and Yoruba, the Nigerian language of his parents.
In the early 1990s Akinnuoye-Agbaje worked as a model and lived in Milan, Italy. After making the decision to become an actor he moved to Los Angeles in 1994, making his movie debut in 1995 in Congo. There he played a jungle guide, tapping into his African background; his performance helped establish a place for himself in the industry. He reprised the role in films such as Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), and The Mummy Returns (2001). Despite being born in England, Akinnuoye-Agbaje has become known as an African actor, possibly because he has refused to adopt a Hollywood screen name. The website Nigeria Online, in an article celebrating his success, claims him for Nigeria: "Akinnuoye-Agbaje is the only actor in the Hollywood circuit from Africa's most populous country yet."
Although he runs the risk of being typecast as "the African," Akinnuoye-Agbaje has managed to produce performances that are distinctive enough to allow his career to develop. He has starred in some of the most successful films of the early twenty-first century. The Mummy Returns was a major box-office success, grossing over $68 million on its opening weekend, while The Bourne Identity (2002), in which he played Wombosi, the target of one of the film's many assassination plots, was one of the best spy thrillers of the year. Since then Akinnuoye-Agbaje has taken on roles in a more diverse range of films, including playing the male lead in the romantic comedy Mistress of Spices in 2005. In 2005 he also appeared alongside rapper 50 Cent in Get Rich or Die Tryin'; , a high-profile film, but one that seems unlikely to match the quality of his previous work despite what has been described as a "magnetic" performance.
By 2005 Akinnuoye-Agbaje's movie career was well established and with a few exceptions his credits suggest an actor willing to take on new challenges. But despite his big screen success, it is in television that he has excelled. In 1997 he joined the cast of Oz, one of HBO-TV's most successful and challenging shows of the 1990s. He stayed with the series for three years, playing the drug-addicted rapist and murderer Adebisi with such depth and sensitivity that he became one of its best-known and most sympathetic characters. For this role he received NAACP Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In 2005 he starred in the second season of Lost, the first season of which averaged nearly 16 million viewers and was nominated for 12 Emmy awards. Akinnuoye-Agbaje's character, the mysterious Mr. Eko, takes his "African" style in yet another direction.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje is a commanding presence on screen with strong features and a powerful physical build that enables him to play intimidating characters in a sensitive and intelligent way. Compelling performances in several films, notably in The Mummy Returns and The Bourne Identity, and on TV in Oz, have marked him out as an important and bankable talent.
I am so glad that guy is Naija, i find him really manly and thats hot hot hot!!!!!!.
lol,Tj the actor,are you sure you are not related to Agbaje?
Hey! What's Up? Gloria....
I am not related in anyway to Wale.. just had the chance to meet him in 2003 when i featured as an extra in a movie with him and wesley snipes.. since then we 've been friends... if u know this dude in person he's so proud of his naija heritage , check out some of his interviews he never shy proclaiming his naija origin hence he refused to change his names for hollywood phony names:)))
Gloria e be like say u like d guy oooo..?????LOL he's single and still searching...:))
peace and love to u sis
This man is soooo very fine. I used to lust over this man when he stared in OZ.
@ Lola- This guy has a million dollar body.
MR. EKO NO PAIN IN THE NECK-O
EXPLAINS 'DIFFICULT' TAG
By DON KAPLAN
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, the African-born actor who starred in "Lost" until this week, clutches a Buddhist prayerbook he read every day on set.
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, the African-born actor who starred in "Lost" until this week, clutches a Buddhist prayerbook he read every day on set.
PreviousPauseNext
PrintEmailDigg ItStory Bottom
November 3, 2006 -- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, the soft-spoken British actor whose character, the hulking Mr. Eko, was killed off "Lost" this week, does not understand why there are rumors circulating that he may have been difficult to work with.
"I've heard speculation that I left 'Lost' because I wasn't happy," Akinnuoye-Agbaje, 39, told The Post yesterday.
"When a star character on a hit show chooses to leave there's always speculation as to whether or not they've done this or that or not gotten along with this or that person. Straight up: it ['Lost'] was probably one of the best relationships I've ever had in terms of developing a character, and I think the character [Mr. Eko] will be a testament to that."
Akinnuoye-Agbaje, a Buddhist, says that perhaps his acting methods were misinterpreted because he didn't talk to anyone while he was on the set and stayed in character as Eko - even off-camera - until the end of the day.
"The only way I know how to deliver [on set] is to focus; some people can turn it on or off - I'd rather stay in character. There was no socializing. I would start two hours before I went to the set and I wouldn't say any other words other than the ones that I needed to say, that's just the way I work and I think that intensity comes across in my characters."
He says that during his downtime he would sit quietly by himself and read from his book of Buddhist scriptures.
Mr. Eko, the beloved but enigmatic African drug lord-turned-priest, was killed on "Lost" by the immense smoke monster that he had once faced down in one of the most intense scenes from last season. Wednesday the monster wrapped itself around Eko and slammed him repeatedly against the trunks of huge, tropical trees. "I think the monster can only prey upon those with weak or evil souls," says Akinnuoye-Agbaje.
Then, giving his take on the "Lost" mythology behind the deadly attack, he says that last season, the monster, "kind of checked Eko out and saw he was a man who was steadfast in his faith, couldn't penetrate and therefore had to retreat and do its homework on him."
Akinnuoye-Agbaje is now working on a semi-autobiographical film he's written and will star in about the experience of African immigrants in Europe.
TJ the actor, can i have wale's email too?Im interested...send it as a comment.Im serious!!!!!!
Yo! What's up? Naya,
Am afraid i can't share his email online without his permission i can only share it with Linda of which i ve asked 4 his consent, also i ve sent him Linda's website for his perusal...
Peace nad Love Sis...
Guys watch out for FARMING next year.....
EXTRA:What have you got planned for after Lost?
ADEWALE: I’m making my directorial debut at the beginning of next year. I’ve just come back from Sundance where I met Robert Redford and Michelle Satter, and they’re backing my film. It’s going to be a black British feature film called Farming, based on my upbringing. I’ll be setting up the shoot for next year and it’ll be out sometime in 2008. There are a few other roles being talked about - big films, which is exciting. I’d really like to play myself as an Englishman. I’d also like a really big, fat, juicy lead character, whether it’s in an action film or a thriller. I’d like to get a big kahuna role now, you know what I mean? I’m ready for it.
this TJ should apply for a job as Wale's PR. Your level of supprot na wa.
On another hand, I do hold high regards for Wale.
Truth,
Thanks 4 ur comment:))))))i will sleep over the matter applying 4 a job$$$ as Wale's PR! But mind u i no go share u kobo from my wages oooo...
Peace and One Love to u!
yikes! i meant he was in nigeria this past christmas!!! but really, i didn't think he was that hot but hey he's doing his thing now, can't be mad at that!
that is my dear Mr Eko. The guy is good. Dey there dey ask questions about awards as if Rome was but in a day. He's busy earning dough some people are busy hating . Na wa o.Nice blog Linda!!
Iyaeto,
U talk well jare, some folks are just playa haters..na award we wan chop? or to keep ur game tight and straight and make ur $$$..Some ppl just love running others down...especially those few ignorants..
People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn't they? People feared coal, they feared gas-powered engines... There will always be ignorance, and ignorance leads to fear. But with time, people will come to accept their silicon masters.”
---Bill Gates
Hi TJ the actor
I have been looking for Wale's agent details for a long time and l cant find it. Can you please post the name of the agent and then l will be able to find out the rest of teh address from there.
Thanks
I was so happy today to run across an actual active posting thread about Adewale! Terrific! I usually post over at the yahoo group adebisirules(http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/Adebisirules/). By the way there a lot of pics over there of Wale too! :) I heard about someone here having an addy for Wale(TJ?), I have been so hoping to find one! I would love to drop him a line. (I'm in Canada-my profile and pic are listed on yahoo) If it is at all possible :) :) :) my email addy is spunky_juniper(at)yahoo.ca
Thanks a lot!
Anonymous June 2cnd, 4:16 AM
I found two listings for agents, I'm sure sure if they're current, but here goes:
Agency for the Performing Arts (APA)
Talent Agent
888 Seventh Ave.
New York, NY 10106
USA
http://www.apa-agency.com
Anonymous Content
Eli Selden
Manager 3532 Hayden Ave
Culver City, CA 90232
USA
http://www.anonymouscontent.com/
However, as I understand it neither will accept fan mail for Adewale. (and I've never tried)
~spunky_juniper
Post a Comment