I barely drink water - Bimbo Akintola

By David Ajiboye
Bimbo Akintola

Bimbo Akintola is not a run-of-the-mill actress, the buxomy actress is one of Nollywood’s most verstile characters.The third child of a family of six, her father hails from Oyo State while her mother is from Edo State. She attended Maryland Private Primary School and Command Day Secondary School, both in Lagos. Thereafter which she did a diploma course in Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan and followed it up with a Bachelor's degree.

Bimbo fell in love with music earlier in her life but acting took the better of her while on campus.A friend of hers, named Bassey Okon asked her if she was interested in playing a certain role in Lola Fani-Kayode's upcoming TV series Family Ties to which she replied in the affirmative.They came to Lagos together to meet Lola and she was given the role. Incidentally, her first movie role was facilitated by Niyi Wuraola who was a crew member of Family Ties. Niyi later told Tade Ogidan about Bimbo's skills in interpreting roles. So,when it was time for him to shoot Owo Blow, he invited her for audition and she got a role.

From 1995 when Owo Blow was shot till date, Bimbo has featured in some of the best movies produced in the country.They include The Gardener, Back to Life, Ogede Didun, Diamond Ring, The Mourning After, Temi Ni Tooto and Out of Bounds, which shot her into the limelight.

Bimbo is often described as being weird because of the kind of roles she's given to play and her past relationship with Afrobeat artiste, Dede Mabiaku which produced a child.

The 'kiss and tell' attitude of her past lovers who would rather expose her secret habits has also not helped matters. The seductive actress loves wearing casuals, especially jeans and T-shirts and doesn't give a hoot about that.

She thinks she's nice, caring and principled. She is also outgoing and loves meeting people.

Bimbo, funny enough doesn't see herself doing any other thing aside acting and that explains why she's giving it her best. She's one of the best actresses around.

Asked to comment further on her life and career, the mother of one said she would prefer to talk on her daily routine and fashion sense.

“You see when it comes to shoes, for me, the higher the shoe, the better. People used to call me Miss Paris because I have always loved high heels, even as a young girl. I am not comfortable with low heels and cover shoes. I wear more of sandals and slippers. I think covered shoes are ugly. I like all colours in shoes, most especially beautiful, bright ones.

“I love ethnic jewelry because they are so beautiful, and I love them in chokers. I love what our African jewelry designers are doing with beads; they do such great things with them. I like gold; I like silver and also beads.”

On her hair she said “when it comes to my own hair, the shorter the better. I do enjoy fixing a lot of weave on and different kind of hair extensions. I have a very kinky kind of hair. I remember when I was younger what pains I used to go through to get my hair plaited.

“You know, no matter how long my hair is, once you wash it, it just shrinks and you have to dig it out with a comb. I don’t know where I got my own kind of hair from, and I just asked my mother one day whether I could cut off my hair and she said yes. Ever since then, I have always worn my natural hair short and when I apply relaxers on my hair, it sometimes takes two hours for it to be relaxed.

“I just go and watch a movie and come back to the salon to take the relaxers off. I just love putting colours in my hair. I have bleached my hair to all sorts of colours: blonde, red, name it. And there is no cut that I am not brave to wear, I am not into braids because I am a very restless human being. I can’t imagine me sitting for eight hours to braid my hair.” she said.

On her skin she said “I don’t have any special cream that I apply on my skin. Anything goes as long as it is not a bleaching cream. I have used Nivea Cream, baby lotion, olive oil. The same thing applies with my bath soap. I have used black soap, yellow soap, whatever that is available in the market. I am just lucky to have a good skin. I don’t do anything extra to have this kind of skin.”

“I love exercising a lot. But for me to keep at it, I need to have a friend with me. I just can’t exercise alone for long, and I guess that is the reason why my weight keeps going up and down. I go to the Ivory Health Club. I am at the club regularly, so far I have a friend that is willing to come along with me. If not, I just go in, spend few minutes and that is it. I like working on the treadmills. I like sit-ups although I don’t have flat tummy.

“I do go on diet; I go on vegetables and it works. I eat a lot of pasta and I love junk foods a lot. I eat rice everyday, though it is not good for the system, but what can one do?

“I barely drink water. I love soft drinks a lot. I can wake up in the morning and the first thing I am taking will be a bottle of soft drink. I remember while in the university, I used to drink like 18 bottles a day, but I don’t drink like that any more. Now, I take about three bottles or a bottle a day.