Nollywood actor and filmmaker Femi Adebayo has explained that he left legal practice in 2005 because acting paid him more and gave him greater personal satisfaction.

Speaking during an interview on the Afrobeats podcast, Adebayo said he practised litigation for about two years before choosing acting and film production as his full-time career.

The actor said performing initially appealed to him because he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. Over time, he found the work more rewarding than the profession he had studied.

“It was actually hobby turned profession for me. Acting was a hobby because you want to do what daddy does when you are young.

“But I realised that it was paying more and I felt more passionate about it. I feel happy when I do that more than the law that I went to school to study,” he said.

Adebayo said his decision to leave legal practice followed a period of appearing in court and handling cases.

“I was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2003. I did litigation practice, stood before the court of law and did that for about two years. Something kept dragging me to the acting world, so I gave up in 2005, dropped the wig and gown and went fully into acting and producing,” he said.

His father, veteran actor Adebayo Salami, popularly known as Oga Bello, had initially welcomed his ambition to become a lawyer.

According to Adebayo, his father had wanted to study law himself but lacked the financial support to pursue it. His son’s decision to enter the profession had therefore meant a great deal to him.

Leaving law brought mixed feelings for his father, who was also pleased to see him take up acting.

“When I said I wanted to study law, he was happy because that was his dream. Eventually, when I pulled out from law, it was in between being happy that somebody was taking after him in the acting world and at the same time dropping the wig and gown that he had wanted to hold,” he said.

Adebayo said his father eventually became grateful for his choice. He has also previously discussed his father’s influence on his career, describing him in a Guardian interview as both his father and his boss in the industry.