Flashback: Pastoral Work Doesn’t Affect My Acting Career

There were mixed reactions on Sunday after the Fountain of Life Church (TFOLC) announced Jimmy Odukoya, a Nollywood actor and the son of Bimbo and Taiwo Odukoya, as the senior pastor of the church.

Recall that the Church’s founder, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, died on August 7, 2023, in the United States.

The former senior pastor of the church passed away at the age of 67, Naija News reports.

However, Jimmy, who has now succeeded his late father as the new spiritual leader of the church, has once said that being a pastor doesn’t affect his acting career.

In January 2021, while speaking during an Instagram Live interview with actress and presenter, Iretiola Doyle, Jimmy said he doesn’t bother playing the role of an antagonist in movies as far as it aligns with his worldview.

The heir of the Odukoya, who insisted that acting and being a pastor are two different things, said there is no such thing as being a Christian actor, as coined by some people.

According to him, he would play any role as an actor as far as people can learn from it.

“How does being a pastor affect my acting career? I don’t believe it; some people have different opinions, one is if I am an actor, I should be a Christian actor, and I say there is no such thing.

“There is no such thing as a Christian banker, a Christian doctor, a Christian accountant or a gynaecologist. An accountant is an accountant, and an actor is an actor. Because I am a Christian and an actor, that means I have a particular worldview,” the star of Netflix’s Woman King movie said during the said interview.

“In what I do as a person when I am given a role, I ask myself, ‘does this align with my worldview? Can a lesson be learnt from this story?’ If the answer is yes, then I am happy to do it. It does not mean that I have to be a good guy; I am happy to be the antagonist as long as people can learn from it,” Daily Trust quoted Jimmy as saying.

Naija News understands that Jimmy started his acting career in 2016 after featuring in Baby Shower.

He has been nominated for the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award (AMVCA) in the “Best Supporting Actor of the Year” category.