Following a less than traditional path, that didn’t include acting, Remi Adeleke finds himself fimly planted in the latest installment one of Hollywood’s most successful franchises TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT.
Forced to leave Nigeria at a young age, Adeleke and his family relocated to the Bronx where he, like so many, faced the everyday struggle of falling into a life of crime, drugs and street hustling. Stumbling upon another Michael Bay film, The Rock starring Nicholas Cage, Adeleke now he finds himself working under the guidance of the same storyteller that changed the entire trajectory of his life.
Jeandra LeBeauf of BSO sat down with Adeleke to discuss his humble beginnings in the Bronx, how The Rock lead him to public service, and the full circle moment when he landed on the set of TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST NIGHT at Michael Bay’s behest.
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BSO: Transformers is more than just a movie, it’s been a worldwide staple global since it first started with the cartoons and action figures. Was landing this role like a childhood dream come to life?
RA: Absolutely. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. I’m an 80’s baby and I used to watch the cartoons and my Mom would buy me the toys so it’s sort of surreal to go from playing with the toys to being on set with Optimus Prime.
BSO: Your journey isn’t the typical actor’s story. In fact you tried to run from the acting bug on more than one occasion. How did we finally end up here?
RA: I got off active duty in January 2013. About nine months later, I was approached by a lady and her husband that worked with Michael Bay on The Rock providing military personnel and assets. She knew I was out of the military so she reached out and asked if I was available to film for a TV show called The Last Ship. I had NO acting experience and acting wasn’t something I wanted to do AT ALL. So after some convincing I finally agreed to do it but I made it clear it was for one day and after that I was done.
I went down to set and I wasn’t impressed with the experience. I mean the cast and crew and production team were great but I just wasn’t impressed with the acting itself at that time.
BSO: But that wasn’t the end …
RA: No it wasn’t. A few weeks after that, a lady from my church found out that I filmed at The Last Ship and suggested I audition for a play down in San Diego. She kept on me for about three weeks and kept saying you need to audition. I was ok with a day of TV but there was no way I’m going to get on stage, memorize lines and make a fool of myself.
But she convinced me and I went down knowing I would bomb the audition but at least I could say I went. Once I got there I saw all the actors doing their rehearsals and pacing back and forth and said to myself, you’ve come all this way, just go in there and give it your best shot.
When I got in front of them the casting director, he asked if I could improv a scene, so I did a speech. Next thing I know they asked if I was available to start rehearsals the next week.
That’s when I thought to myself, I think I got something going here.
BSO: So it was off to the races?
RA: No. After it was over, I quit acting again. I had a wife and one child at the time to feed and there was no way I was going to do that acting full time. Fast forward to May of 2016 I was in grad school and the same lady who reached out to me from The Last Ship reached out to me again and said there’s a film starting tomorrow. Part of me said no, part of me said, you gotta pay the bills so I said sure and that’s how I landed on Transformers.