Funke Akindele’s First Fives: Celebrity Crush, First Audition, ₦1B Box Office & More

What was Funke Akindele like before the record-breaking box-office runs, hit films, and non-stop production schedules?

Long before becoming a household name, she had her own celebrity crushes, suffered extreme nerves on her very first film set, and endured long audition queues in Surulere—arriving in a non-air-conditioned Peugeot 504. While the box-office powerhouse has been in the entertainment industry long enough to fill a library of stories, some of her best moments lie in the small, early details.

During a recent studio sit-down with the box-office powerhouse, we covered a lot of ground—from her latest milestones to her upcoming film, The Four. But some of our favourite moments came when we asked her to share five memorable ‘firsts’ from her career.

Here are five revealing firsts Funke Akindele shared with us:

Funke Akindele posing in a custom puff-sleeve ensemble and high braided hairstyle for her film The Four: No One Fights Alone.

Her First Celebrity Crush

Long before she became a household name, her very first celebrity crush was American singer Robin Thicke. Singing a snippet of his hit track Lost Without You, she admitted with a laugh, “He’s so handsome..”

Her First Day on Set

Facing the camera for the very first time was a nervous experience on the set of the Opa Williams film Naked Wire, alongside Kate Henshaw and Ebun Oloyede. Tasked with delivering a line to Kate, anxiety quickly set in. “I was so jittery, I was scared, oh my God, anxiety” she remembered. “Ebun Oloyede told me to tell Kate Henshaw that he’s in love with her. And I was shaking and shaking. Kate just pulled me close: ‘Come, what’s your name?’ I said, ‘Funke, ma.’ ‘Calm…