• Toheb Jimoh performs two Nigerian characters in the exhibits at present airing: “Ted Lasso” and “The Power.”
• The actor instructed Insider that he’s playing the Nigerian character “on purpose”.
• Jimoh mentioned it’s “awesome” to “be part of the narrative” about Nigeria on tv.

Toheb Jimoh at present performs two Nigerian characters on tv – and in response to the British-Nigerian actor, it is no coincidence.

“It’s definitely a calculated thing,” Jimoh instructed Insider. “I’m doing it on purpose. And I love the opportunity to tell Nigerian stories and show us in a different light.”

The 25-year-old Emmy-nominated actor, who was born in London and spent most of his childhood in Nigeria, stars as footballer Sam Obisanya in the Apple TV+ sequence “Ted Lasso” and as freelance journalist Tunde in “The Power” . Ojo.

The two exhibits at the moment are releasing concurrently — “I didn’t plan that bit,” Jimoh instructed Insider — and the actor mentioned it is “dope” to be playing two Nigerian characters at the similar time.

Whereas Tunde was written as a Nigerian character, each in the present and in Naomi Alderman’s supply novel of the similar identify, Sam was not: after Jimbo was solid, the character’s nationality was rewritten from Ghanaian to Nigerian. . Jimoh was the first to vary his audition, telling The Los Angeles Times that he intentionally modified the dialogue throughout his audition to talk “a little bit of Yoruba”.

In American and British fashionable tradition, Nigeria has typically been lowered to depictions of scandal that contribute to racist stereotypes, says media research professor Noah Tsika. Written in the online journal Africa is a Country, Some characters, comparable to “Ted Lasso” Sam, “Sex Education” Eric EffiongOr Abishola of “Bob Hurts Abishola” Has helped transfer the needle on the portrayal of Nigerians and the Nigerian diaspora.

Jimoh instructed Insider, “I used to watch TV, and the way Nigerians were represented in the media had nothing to do with Nigerians. It was heavily influenced by my culture and my parents’ culture.” It was an out of doors view. “And so being able to be a part of the narrative, being able to write it in a little way, add my own sauce to it, bring all the joy and good things that I’ve seen into it.” The display is nice.”