Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Strikes back at The Thing

Onscreen, British-born actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (phonetically pronounced: Aday-Warlay Akinnoy-Yay Ag Bajay) is an imposing figure. With memorable roles in “Oz” and “Lost”, the actor admits he is often cast as a “brawler.”

In September, Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who also goes by Wale (Wally) and Ade, can be seen in more action-oriented roles, including Cinemax’s tour de force, “Strike Back,” playing a vicious warlord; Killer Elite; and The Thing. Yet in person, the actor known for his intimidating stare, is in fact pensive and affable, possessing a hearty laugh that can fill a room.

The product of a foster system in England, Wale’s Nigerian parents left their newborn son to be raised by a white family in the gritty area of Essex. There, he was educated (earning a Master’s degree in Law) and instilled with a commitment to education and a bulletproof work ethic. 

When Wale decided not to pursue a career in law, he modeled in Milan before moving to America to pursue acting, which began with several roles in music videos. Extra work and bit parts soon followed before he turned heads in HBO’s groundbreaking prison drama, “Oz.” But it was on “Lost,” as Mr. Eko, when the actor’s profile skyrocketed.

Always looking to showcase his range as an actor, Wale also wants to step behind the camera and direct. During a casual afternoon interview, the actor opened up about his tumultuous childhood, his no-nonsense approach to be noticed and move up the Hollywood food chain, and his promising future.

Venice: You have a lot of projects out at once right now. How does that feel?

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje:

It’s great. It’s really fortuitous. You couldn’t plan it better. I’ve been off the scene for a little while, so to come back strong in varied roles from British indies to Hollywood blockbusters is nice. For me, it’s a good time to get back in the groove. 

Your name means, “The crown has arrived. A warrior of great chieftaincy who will yield wealth and prosperity.” Was that a lot to live up to growing up?

That’s an understatement.  [laughs] The crown has arrived! I would often take the crown off and just have people call me Wale instead of Adewale. Also, where I grew up was quite a brutal, racist town in southeast England. Often, the only black people were me and my sisters. Growing up with a name that’s very obviously African, and foreign, and not only African, it was one of those names that was not easily pronounced was the cause of many confrontations. Now, people call me Triple A. I guess when you grow up fighting for your name, when you get to Hollywood you’re not going to change it, because you’ve gone through hell and high water to stand up for it. And also, it has a significant meaning. The names are there to define your purpose in life.

Early on, did you have managers and agents suggesting you should change your name?

Always, they always tried to, I suppose, westernize the name and make it more palatable to a western audience. The way I see it, if you don’t hold your ground for something, then you’ll be forever succumbing to popular demand and opinion. Whereas, if you stand by what you believe and who you are, people will get used to it. It may take some time, but pretty soon they’ll be naming their dogs and cats Ade or Adawale or Triple A. It’s like Schwarzenegger, when he came over it was a very unusual name. It depends on what you’re doing; if you’re doing great work, people will make the effort to pay attention to it.

It must have been difficult in school.

Not everyone is John, Paul, or Dick. I remember in school they tried to call me Robert. The funny thing was, they used to call me Robert, even my mum tried it, and it lasted about three days. My mum said, look, he just doesn’t respond. I was four or five years old. Do I look like a Robert to you? It just didn’t work.

In “Strike Back” you play a warlord. Did you have any apprehension about taking on that role?

There were the initial reservations — is this a caricature? And do I really want to play somebody so heinous? But then I had to look for his humanity. Here’s the thing about life, it’s not black and white. It’s gray. And it’s the gray area that’s the really interesting part. Nobody is absolutely evil, and nobody is absolutely perfect. We have shades of both. So when I look at a character, especially if he’s seemingly a bad character, I look for the humanity, and also, the core of what is driving him. When you understand what motivates him and his behavior, then he becomes human and then I can invest myself in it. While it was intriguing and fascinating, it was also enjoyable. Look, I have to be honest with you, when the script came in and said you’re chopping someone’s ear off, you’re killing people left and right… sign me up. [laughs]

With television shows like “Strike Back” and “Lost”, it’s like you’re filming a movie. And we shot two episodes back-to-back and I was in South Africa for five weeks. It really was like a movie. And that was one of the other motivating factors, the fact that it being shot in South Africa and I’ve never been there. 

What did you think of it?

It was one of the most stunning places on this planet. I was really blown away by how beautiful it was. I was very much enjoying the landscape and culture there.

You never had formal acting training. You started out in music videos. Did you always have the “big picture” in mind? Did you look at that experience as your acting school?

You’re right, I didn’t, as we say in England, tread the balls. I was one of these actors that went through RADA — I do call my training RADA, Rough and Dirty Academy — because I was on my feet working in videos and commercials and as an extra. Really, I suppose at that point, I just figured however I could get in front of the camera is how I would do it. And those were some of the avenues that were available to me and I just used them. I just had to get in front of the camera. Even if it’s just one or two lines, it all counts. Often, I was given a line or two and it’s the way that you deliver them that would impress the director. “Oz” started like that. It was a two-line part and I was supposed to be in two episodes and die in the second episode. I was supposed to say something and I was in the back and I remember when we shot it, the two lines that I had to say, I made sure to push through the whole gang and came to the front and said it to the opposing gang on camera. I wasn’t going to say my two lines in the back because you know they’re not going to end up on the screen. [laughs] I had the foresight of knowing that much. When you come up through the ranks like that, as an extra or an outsider, you’re hungry, and you have this innate ability that you have to develop, to see where the camera is, because you’re not in front of it. You’re in the back or off to the side, so what- ever you’re doing, you have to make sure that the camera is picking it up. And that only comes from being an extra because you have to work with what you have. You’re just trying to get the attention of the camera.

But you don’t want to call too much attention where you’ll force the director to stop the take.

And that’s very important, that you’re not trying to upstage the lead. It’s subtlety. That’s where the skill comes in. And that’s just some- thing that I learned on my feet because I wanted to be seen. It’s a balance of subtlety and ingenuity. And by the end of the first season of “Oz,” I was a lead character, from two lines. [laughs]

Is it true that you got cast in a music video just walking down the street in New York City?

Yeah, I was out on an audition and shuffled down with the other hundreds of thousands and it was one of those hot days of hitting the pavement. I remember I was looking good because I was fit and I was coming down the street and I could see a camera crew in this bar and this lady ran up to me and said, ‘Excuse me, do you want to earn $400 kissing some beautiful girls in this bar?’ That was the bar I usually hung out in anyway, and that’s what I’d normally do in there. So if they’re going to pay me, great! They weren’t happy with their lead guy. That was Sean Penn’s video [“No, You Don’t Love Me,” 1994]. They paid me the money and I had a drink and then carried on walking. [laughs]

You have a Master’s degree in law. How did you decide to get into acting?

In my family, there are four lawyers. My father, who is a Nigerian immigrant, came to England and was raised on a farm. My dad was a real stickler about education. You have to understand, this was the first generation in our family history that had become educated. They looked at education as the only way to excel in life. Me, being the only male, was expected to follow suit. I was about to get my PhD and I just said, this is not what I want. I was very creative, and I said to my father, this is more for you. And I respected his aspiration because I knew where he had come from. And to be quite frank, I believe [education] was one of the key factors of why I have succeeded so fast and so far. The discipline you get from studying something such as law, which is very analytical and you have to be very focused. It was the perfect set up for this type of profession.

How did your family react at the time?

Well, you can imagine, I was more or less carved out of the family. My sisters were encouraged not to associate with me. You have to understand, with my parents’ generation, going into something like entertainment it, was tantamount to becoming a drug dealer or a prostitute. That’s all they could fathom. They were horrified and felt betrayed. But I couldn’t live my life for someone else. It did cause a big riff between the family, but, fortunately, when they saw the success, they came around.

Before you began acting, you lived inMilan and modeled. What was that like? 

I knew I didn’t want to do law so I asked myself, “Where in the world do they have a fashion industry but don’t have black guys?” And I looked at Italy and said that was the spot. And the reason I chose it was because if I blew up there, I’d be the only one. I knew it was going to be hard to break the ice but as soon as I graduated I went to Italy. It took me about six to eight months, and it was a really rough six to eight months. I slept in the parks and didn’t know anybody there. I didn’t speak the language. I started working in a club and met my modeling agent and I became the first black guy on many covers and that sparked it all off 

Were you happy modeling?

I looked at it as a business. I never thought I was a good-looking guy. You grow up with four black sisters they’ll let you know who you are. [laughs] They check you everyday. If anything, I had a complex.

Who are the people that have influenced you?

That’s a good question. This is what’s interesting — I was a bit of a bad boy and as a form of punishment, my mum would send me to sit with my grandmother, who lived up the road. And she used to watch these awful, black and white movies and I’d have to sit on the floor painstakingly watching one after the other, and I just hated it. I was only like seven or eight years old. But I got into them and by nine I knew every movie and every actor. She was kind of a stern grandmother and I remember looking at her face watching these movies and she became soft and angelic, and I was fascinated how these movies could turn her. And as soon as the movie finished, she went back to being this stern grandmother. And then we developed this love for them. That’s what really spawned my interest very early on, but in terms of my mentors, I suppose, back in the day, Pelé was a huge hero. I remember reading the book Malcolm X – that changed my life. Fela Kuti, a great Nigerian political singer, really changed my life. Bob Marley, of course. Those were some of my influences, but largely it was my father. I was fostered to a white family while my biological parents worked and studied. I had two families and both of the men in them were really strong. One was an academic and the other, the white guy, was a truck driver, but he was a very principled man and he taught me so much.

Did you understand why your parents sent you to a foster home? Did you harbor any resentment towards them?

They did it very early. I was six weeks old when they sent me away. The first time I met them I was eight. So when I did see them, I didn’t know who they were and I didn’t want to. As far as I was concerned my other parents were my parents. Over time we certainly forged some kind of bond, but it was difficult because there was a huge gap. By the time they really became involved in my life was when I started going to college, and by that time I had formed my own identity. It was a strain but after time we got on.

In Killer Elite, you play an agent, a businessman. Were you disappointed to miss out on the action or was it refreshing to play someone in a suit?

I knew going in what the role was and I just wanted to be in a scene with De Niro. And also, I thought it was refreshing to play a suit and tie. I’m normally cast as a brawler and I thought it was an interesting departure where you’re sending them all around. It’s nice to do the action but I’m all about showing [my] range.

Were you a fan of John Carpenter’s The Thing?

I’m not a huge fan of the horror genre but there’s something about Carpenter’s take — it’s more like a thriller. It’s quite an intelligent horror movie and it invites the audience to play along. I thought we had an interesting take making a prequel. It’s just great to be part of an American cult classic.

A lot of people got to know you playing Mr. Eko on “Lost.” Did you know how popular that character would be?

You never really know but you can get a sense by who is involved. I was unfamiliar with “Lost” because I had been living in Europe. They had written this character with me in mind and they talked to me about what I wanted to do. At that point in my career, I didn’t want to stay on TV so I said I wouldn’t mind a short burst, so we had a one-year option. You never know how it’s going to go but there’s something about shooting in Hawaii. It’s a very spiritual place. I loved it. It’s similar to “Oz” in that if it didn’t fly within the first couple of episodes, then they’d kill you. You have to make a really quick impact on a show like that where they’re servicing 15 characters. I had to get in there and really make an impact. Fortunately, that‘s what happened. I was just blown away by the magnitude and the appreciation of viewers, and I’m talking all over the bleeding world.

There was a lot of speculation about why you left the show. Does it bother you how easily rumors can be started or do you look at it as part of the job?

It’s part of it. No, it doesn’t bother me. I knew why I left and that’s what’s important. People are always going to speculate. And to be honest, we decided from day one that I was only going to be on it for a year; it’s just that the character took off and the audience really connected. But my agenda was always the same. I was trying to direct a film that I developed at Sundance at the time. That was really what my sole purpose was. 

You donated your last four “Lost” pay- checks to charity in Hawaii. Was that just because of your affinity with Hawaii?

Hawaii had given me a lot of love. I’m a Buddhist and there’s a really great Buddhist community in Hawaii. The SGI (Soka Gakkai International, a worldwide Buddhist network which promotes peace, culture, and education through personal transformation and social contribution) really supported me while I was there. I just felt a lot of gratitude and I wanted to support and help them develop their foundation.

And you still want to direct?

Definitely. I’ve written about four scripts now. I’m very anxious to get behind the camera. It’s something I think I was born to do.

What’s your film going to be about?

It’s called Farming and it’s based on how I grew up, the process of the Nigerian immigrants going to Africa. My father and mother were part of that process where they went to work and study, and in the process they farmed their children out en masse to working class families. And they would pick up their children when they were educated and had saved enough money to go back home. The time between they dropped these children off was anywhere between six weeks old and 20 years. It’s about this whole first black British generation in England and what they went through.

Did your sisters go through that too?

Yes, I was in a house with 12 Nigerian children, two of which were my sisters. It’s basically the British City of God.

Did you look at all the kids as your brothers and sisters, or did you know these were your two real sisters?

You just took everyone as one. You knew, but there was no differentiation; you were all brothers and sisters. What was difficult is that they would all leave. After three or four years, they were gone, and you’d never see them again. Kids don’t discriminate, they just want to go out and play. ▼