I’ve achieved more as a security guard in U. S. — Actor, Femi Ogedengbe

The last time Nollywood actor, Femi Ogedengbe, made news headlines was in 2014 after he christened his twins, Nollywood and Hollywood.

Today, the one-time movie star is currently trending for saying that he has achieved much as a security guard in the United States than as an actor.

Ogedengbe now resides in the U.S. alongside his family whom he supports through his full-time job as a security guard. He said this in a YouTube video released on Monday.

According to him, he has achieved more in over a year as a security guard than he did in the 20 years, which he served as an actor, director and movie producer.

Currently a certified security guard, he works at Keysight Technology located at Bay area, California.

Reacting to the criticism that has trailed his new career, Ogedengbe said in the video post, “Oh yes! I am now a security guard in the USA, and so what? Well, I have only been doing this for a little more than one year now and I can boldly say without any shame that what I have achieved in my father’s land being an actor/director/producer for over (20+) twenty-something years.

“In fact, the stories about most pan-Africa Leaders like Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Robert Mugabe and a host of the generation after them were all involved in one menial job or the other across western countries to support their education. But today, we can only remember them for being great African leaders and not for the dirty jobs they had to do on their road to greatness. Indeed the end justifies the means.

“A truly hungry man is not in the position to score the quality or sweetness of a meal since near every meal will be delicious in his mouth, so also I may not be in the best position to tell the world the perfect meaning of success.

“So kindly indulge me when I make a declaration that, I have been blessed by God and have been extremely successful in my own definition of that word, if only you all can see things from my point.

“Yes! If only you know where I am coming from then you will agree that I have truly been blessed, if only you know the odds against me growing up then you will appreciate where I am today, if only you know what I have had to pull through, you will bless God on my behalf, if only you know half of my story you will celebrate me even as a gardener today.”

Ogedengbe left the shores of Nigeria in January 2016, to seek greener pastures abroad. A pioneer Nollywood actor, his acting career has been fraught with a lot of challenges.

He once ran a barbing saloon back in 1993. He shut the business down four years after to face acting full time. When things got tough for him, he opened another salon in 2015, which he says cost him N1 million.

By 2016, he said he discovered that he could barely make N100, 000 from the business. So, he was forced to make the decision to leave Nigeria for the US.

Ogedengbe who has just begun a YouTube video-series to air his views on Nigeria’s challenges, is best known for his roles in Onilara and She is my Sister.