Nollywood actor Joseph Benjamin has revealed that failed movie gigs turned him into a cab driver after he moved to the U.S.
The 46-year-old admitted that he moved to the US after being promised movie jobs by someone who eventually let him down.
He made this known on the most recent episode of the Teju Babyface Deep Dive podcast, which is hosted by comedian Teju Oyelakin.
He said, “I got to America on a promise that I had some gigs waiting for me. So I thought I was going to have a soft landing there. I packed up everything from Nigeria, bought a one-way ticket, and came to America.
“I was put in a well-furnished house and all of that. Then two days later, the person with whom I was supposed to book a deal said to me, ‘Those are our financiers who have pulled out. They have an issue.’
“So, I said, what do I do? He was like, ‘From next month on, you will have to start paying rent in this house.’ The amount of the one-month rent was equivalent to a one-year rent in Nigeria.
“I’m like, ‘I’m not earning any money, so what do I do?’ I don’t know what to do. So, having shot into that life, I had to figure out what to do. I had nowhere to go. Nothing to turn to.
“My phone was buzzing, like, ‘When are you coming back to Nigeria? We have this gig for you.’ $1,500 was all I came to America with. How do I buy a ticket to go back to Nigeria?”
Benjamin also disclosed that he drove Uber, Lyft, and delivered Amazon packages to pay his bills in America.
“And then someone gave me a car. I’m like, What do I do with the car? And they said Uber. I was driving for Uber and Lyft to pay my bills.
“I carried a lot of Nigerians; my name on the Uber App was Joseph. The moment they get in, or three minutes into the journey, they know I’m the one.”
“One woman even had to call her husband, and she ended up taking pictures with me. I even had some people say to me, ‘Boss, you will make it.”
