Joseph-Benjamin
Actor par excellence, Joseph Benjamin in the videos posted below narrated to Teju Babyface how he went through a living hell when he relocated to America, having sold some and dashed out about 90 percent of his belongings in Nigeria, hoping to catch the American dream in pomp and pageantry, only to be thrown out in the cold where he eventually faced reality.
Joseph Benjamin in the video narrated how he became an Uber driver, and drove a delivery truck in the United States after a friend he squatted with, opened up to him on the reality that he’d have to “pay rent in this house” after all moves to get him connected to Hollywood failed.
Asked how he did it when he carried Nigerian passengers, and he said, “I have carried many Nigerians in my car and they recognized me in less than three minutes of hopping in, and guess what, my car became a motivational ground for some sort, he retorted.
WHO IS JOSEPH BENJAMIN:
Joseph Benjamin is a Nigerian actor whose prowess and delivery of script are super exceptional.
Cutting his teeth in Nollywood in 1991, Joseph made his movie debut in Crossroads, starring along with Ramson Nuoah and Sandra Achums.
STATE OF ORIGIN:
Joseph is an indigene of Kogi State and his mother is from Anambra State mother
JOSEPH BENJAMIN BIOGRAPHY ROUNDUP:
ENigeria Newspaper reports that Joseph Benjamin was born on 9 November 1976, to a Kogi State indigene father and an Anambra State mother. He completed his primary education in Benue State in the north-central part of Nigeria and obtained his First School Leaving Certificate, after which he completed his secondary school education in Lagos State in the southwestern part of Nigeria and obtained his West African Senior School Certificate.
Joseph relocated to the United States in 2016, where he currently resides. He identifies as a born-again Christian.
JOSEPH BENJAMIN MOVIES AND CAREER DEBUT:
Benjamin made his movie debut in Crossroads, in 1991 – this is along with some of the biggest faces in the Nigerian movie industry then, like Ramsey Nouah, Sandra Achums, etc.
It is important to also mention that his screen debut was earlier when he first starred in the television program Tales by Moonlight on NTA at age 12.
NOLLYWOOD, TV JOURNEY/CAREER:
The information available to ENigeria Newspaper is that Joseph has starred in several television series, including Edge of Paradise, in which he was being “crushed on” by his neighbor’s daughter, and Super Story. His eventual breakthrough in film came in the early 2010s, with roles in romantic-themed films such as Kiss and Tell, Tango with Me, which was nominated for five Africa Movie Awards, and Married but Living Single.
He broke typecasting in 2013 by playing the role of a detective in the 2013 crime thriller Murder at Prime Suites (MAPS), which was inspired by an actual criminal case in Lagos, Nigeria, in which a woman was murdered by someone she met on Facebook.
Shortly after completing MAPS, Joseph joined the cast of Desperate Housewives Africa, the Nigerian remake of the American hit series, playing the role of Chuka Obi, housewife Kiki Obi’s wealthy and domineering husband, opposite Kehinde Bankole. For his Tv debut, Joseph co-hosted, with Adaora Oleh, MTN Project Fame West Africa between 2009 and 2016, and has appeared in countless TV and radio commercials.
JOSEPH BENJAMIN FIRST WIFE:
This may sound very absurd, but Joseph took the world by storm with a revelation that he married his first wife out of pity – this is after they had been married for about eight years and having two beautiful kids (a boy and a girl) together.
He admits that his ex-wife is a good woman, who played an integral role in his career. However, he dares to speak that he married her “out of pity”. It’s not the best way to describe the woman that you loved. It’s hard to understand what really happened in this family. They managed to live together for eight years, but they were not happy. It explains a lot about their relationship.
JOSEPH BENJAMIN MARRIAGE/WIVES:
Joseph Benjamin failed in marriage at the first attempt. Despite having two kids with his first wife, and spending about eight years together, the actor walked out of the marriage leaving his wife heartbroken and he spilled it all in the media, fueling a serious controversy in the year 2012.
Moving ahead to the United States, the actor hooked up with Ghanaian, Odo whom he married much later and he appears happy with her.
JOSEPH BENJAMIN IN GREENLEAF:
News of the former host of MTN Project Fame, joining Oprah Winfrey Network-produced Greenleaf Tv series excited many Nigerians, and more exciting that Benjamin who starred as Joseph Obi’ – the new accountant of the Greenleaf family’s Memphis megachurch, did put up a brilliant performance.
The drama cast includes Keith David, Merle Dandridge, Kim Hawthorne, Lynn Whitfield, and Lamman Rucker. Greenleaf is an American television drama series created by Craig Wright and executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and Lionsgate Television.
Narrating how he landed the juicy role, Benjamin said, years after his unpleasant ordeal in America, he got connected to an agent who helped him secure the role that would eventually change his Hollywood experience.
CONTROVERSIES:
Just like every other human, the actor also had his fair share of controversies. From his widely reported alleged romance with Adaora of Project Fame to his interview acknowledging he left his first wife because he married her out of pity, those were not easy moments for the Kogi-born super star, but he managed to steer through them all.
JOSEPH BENJAMIN AS A CAB DRIVER IN AMERICA…
In his interview with Teju Babyface, Joseph acknowlegd that life dealth him a heavy blow upon relocating to America and he resorted to menial jobs to pay his bill.
“I drove uber to pay my bills abroad’ – Actor Joseph Benjamin
Nigerian actor Joseph Benjamin has revealed he dived into the taxi business to survive after he became stranded in the United States of America”.
The 46-year-old actor said he relocated from Nigeria to the U.S. after someone promised him movie gigs in America, but the person later disappointed him.
Benjamin revealed this while appearing on the latest episode of the podcast, hosted by comedian Teju Babyface.
He claimed that he had to work as an Uber driver in order to pay his bills, and some of his customers even took photos of him while he was at work.
Benjamin 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 who I was supposed to book a deal with said to me, ‘Those our financiers 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, 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.’ Teju, $1,500, was all I came to America with. How do I buy a ticket to go back to Nigeria?
“My life pattern then was so disorganized in the sense that I didn’t have a proper saving culture. With all the money I was making in Nigeria, my life was a m*ss. I sold my cars and gave out like 90 percent of all my belongings in Nigeria. I was like, I’m going to America to live a good life and all of that stuff. How do I buy a ticket to go back to Nigeria? Lord, what do I do? And God said to me that ‘Welcome to the life that I arranged for you. I needed to break you away from your comfort zone so that I can build you.’
“I was like, ‘No, no, no …’ He was like, ‘Yes, welcome to it. So, here you are, now a way to earn a living. How do you move forward?’ Then, sometimes I will be in my room crying. I’m like, ‘Lord, where do I go from here?’ And for some reason, every month I get to pay the rent. I got connected to my church. 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.”
Listen to the full Podcast below:
Free CNG Conversion: The six approved locations listed by the Federal government, where vehicles can…
Pastor Lazarus Muoka, founder of Lord’s Chosen Church has buried his late wife, Joy Muoka…
In a report released by the Financial Institutions Training Centre (Fitc) in Quarter 2, 2024,…
Omoyele Sowore has been released from the custody of the Department of State Security (DSS)…
A new price for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), or petrol, has emerged as the Nigerian…
Omoyele Sowore was arrested moments ago by the Department of State Security (DSS), and this…