Brief background of Actor Kunle Afolayan.

Kunle Afolayan born 30 September 1975 is a Nigerian actor, producer and director.

Afolayan is of Igbomina-Yoruba descent, from Kwara State North Central Nigeria 

He is the son of the theatre and film director Ade Love. He majored in economics and started out working in a bank while doing some casual acting, before deciding to move into full-time filmmaking and taking a course at the New York Film Academy

Since 2005 he has been active in the Nigerian film industry. He has made several films including: The Figurine: Araromire which was in the Yoruba and English languages and Phone Swap which featured Wale Ojo, Joke Silva, Nse Ikpe Etim and Chika Okpala. The Figurine won five major awards in the African Film Academy and was successful in Nigerian movie theaters

Afolayan appeared at the Subversive Film Festival in 2011 where he represented the Nigerian film industry with his colleague Zeb Ejiro. In May 2013, Phone Swap premiered in France at the first edition of Nollywood Week Paris and won the Public Choice Award

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. 1 October 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.

Afolayan married Tolu in 2007, and they have four children and their marriage ended in 2019.