Kunle Afolayan

Kunle Afolayan () (born 30 September 1975) is a Nigerian actor, producer and director. He is widely credited for elevating the quality of Nollywood movies through larger budgets, shooting on 35mm, releasing in cinemas, and improving cliché Nollywood storylines. After starting his film career as an actor in the 1999 political drama Saworoide, Afolayan made his directorial debut in 2006 with Irapada, a Nigerian supernatural thriller, which won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Film in an African Language. His follow-on directing credits include The Figurine, Phone Swap, October 1, and Citation. October 1 was the winner of 16 major African movie awards in 2015 and the second highest grossing Nigerian film in Nigerian cinemas at the time of its release, a feat Afolayan was to repeat two years later with The CEO. In 2021, the director signed a three-picture deal with Netflix. Swallow, the screen adaption of Sefi Atta's book of the same name was the first to be released in October 2021, followed by Aníkúlápó, an epic Nigerian fantasy released in September 2022. Afolayan has described the work as a "Game of Thrones recreated in Nigeria but with a better representation of our culture”. Eleven days after its release, it was the #1 most-watched non-English Netflix original film.