Actor and filmmaker Lateef Adedimeji has revealed that crying on screen early in his career was a deliberate strategy to distinguish himself in the competitive movie industry.

Speaking during an interview on The Morayo Show, Adedimeji said breaking into Nollywood was difficult, and he needed a unique trait to make audiences remember him.

“When I came into the industry, it was quite challenging. I resembled one of my senior colleagues whom I love so much. People would say, ‘That guy who resembles Odun, Odun’s brother.’ It was a beautiful thing because they were comparing me to someone great, but at the same time, as a practitioner, people need to know you for something of you.”

Adedimeji said he studied the industry to identify often-overlooked areas that could set him apart, and he decided to focus on emotional scenes.

“So I had to sit, did a lot of research, I asked myself, ‘What is it that people are not paying much attention to that is still important?’ So if I were given a role where I only had to shed tears for two seconds, I would put pressure on it and make those tears come well.”

The approach worked, and audiences began to identify him by that trait, earning him the nickname "crying machine."