This week’s male spotlight is on Nigerian-born Lagos-based entrepreneur, reality TV star, model, and actor—Akintayo John Faniran. Fondly called Tayo, this style star has been a fashionista from day one.
The world is already experiencing Tayo Faniran’s impact as the new big deal. Even during the duration of his stay as Big Brother Africa housemates, which many believe he deserves to win because he was the real content of that season and possibly the content the media relied upon at the time, Tayo has consistently demonstrated that nothing pays more than hard work, despite his rise to fame about ten years ago.
As soon as the show is over While hoping for an enjoyable existence, a substantial amount of disappointment set in from right to left. However, he chose to stand by his truth rather than surrender to the vultures, and everything turned out just fine without the need for deceptive publicity. The majority of his critics, however, are currently headed in the same path as him, and he has since grown into one of the Big Brother Africa alumni with outstanding movement.
We need to learn more about how Tayo was able to separate himself from other people’s realities and pursue his own without losing his pure gold personality. At a time when so many people thought that living life on social media and faking appearances to keep up with the gram was the norm, Tayo used his intuition to create the life and ambitions he had always imagined. He moved the significance of social media and the way of life of celebrities, steadily expanding his fortress and establishing a wide-ranging specialty.
Since he came to the limelight, Tayo has demonstrated a wide range of talents, including acting, modeling, motivational speaking, producing, singing, and, most importantly, being an entrepreneur. You might aptly refer to him as “Mr. Does It All” in terms of substance.
Tayo has continued to grow his brand beyond expectations and needs no validation to show the world what he is capable of.
Akintayo John Faniran, popularly known as Tayo, lives a life made of collections of stories ranging from disappointment days to joyous moments, all of which contributed to where he is today and what the world is seeing through the characters he displays in Gangs of Lagos.
A crime thriller capturing Isale Eko’s reality, Faniran stars alongside other star-studded cast, including Tobi Bakare, Pasuma, Zlatan, Iyabo Ojo, Yhemo Lee, Adesua Etomi-Wellington, Bimbo Ademoye, and Chike in ‘Gangs of Lagos’.
Lost but found
At the media premiere of ‘Gangs of Lagos, Tayo, an accomplished model, spoke about his career challenges and how he snagged a role in the riveting crime thriller.
Reminiscing about his lost fame, he expressed his feelings about losing popularity and narrated how his journey became a struggle.
“You know it’s not easy to have it one time, and then it slips off your hands; you know me, I have been there but then. Another madam here asked me, Tayo, what I wanted her to do for me.
“I said, anything that would not make me stay in Nigeria because, at that time, I had been living in South Africa since 2008, and that was home for me. I just wanted to go back, I left Nigeria when I was hot, and it just looked like I vanished,” he said.
He said, as a superstar, or so he thought, he expected the perks of fame to follow him around and bring him a fortune, but he wildly misjudged things.
“Even though I didn’t think it would be like that, Big Brother’s fame would make you feel like they would look for you. I thought I was on the same level with Davido and Wizkid,” he said.
However, when he returned to South Africa, he explained, perhaps the biggest culture shock he faced was knowing that their stories are written in primarily Indigenous languages, so that he couldn’t get roles as a model.
“I couldn’t do modelling like that anymore because I don’t want this brand to get me for N5 as a model when they can get me as Celebrity for like N50, so the goal stopped somehow,” Faniran added.
The Awakening
Mr Faniran ascribed his decision to return to Nigeria to an awakening triggered by his ancestors.
According to him, in 2019, something happened that he could not talk about. But somehow, he knew it was his ancestors slapping him back to reality.
Despite not being supported by his family, Mr Faniran claimed he loved utilising his talent on screen and chose that path.
“Where I came from was about school, being a doctor, or lawyer. I was like the black sheep of my family, but I loved it. I loved being on TV and don’t feel okay if I’m not seen,” He said.
The 37-year-old actor disclosed that he was surprised not many people knew him again, significantly the Gen-Z.
“So I wasn’t okay; in 2019, I came back home, and things have changed, you know, many of these Gen Z’s didn’t know me. I’d go to a place, and maybe one person that knew me on TV would holler at me, and they would be like, ‘Who is this ?’ But I know I am bad,” he recalled.
Becoming Nino
His return to Nigeria wasn’t easy, he said. To find his path, he produced a movie, hoping to carve a niche for himself.
However, fate smiled at him as the movie led him to get noticed by Jade Osiberu.
“While we were promoting the film, because she (Jade) follows one of the people that I featured, that was how she saw the trailer. I was on vacation somewhere when I received a message from Jade. I knew the time had come because I had been praying, preparing, and waiting.
“I don’t want to be just a handsome actor; I want to know it, I want to do it well, and when I’m watching, I’m watching the way they are doing it when I work with other actors; I ask questions, I’m not shy to ask questions and learn. And today, you guys would see Nino and understand why I feel like I returned from the dead and the whole world is seeing Tayo again,” he said.
Before his significant return, the reality tv star announced a therapy session tagged “The Healing Zone with Tayo Faniran” through Zoom.
The Oyo-born actor, model, life coach and motivational speaker has garnered an Instagram following of over 464,000 followers.