Biography
Dele Ajakaiye's filmmaking career began as an actor and a production assistant in Eddie Ugboma's 35mm film Apalara (1986). After a three-year sabbatical from productions, he returned as a part-time production hand and as an actor in Nigeria's popular soap operas Ripples (1990-91) and Mega Fortunes (1992-93) In 1994, when the current era of Nigerian film industry (Nollywood) started, he was one of the very few detailed personnel in the industry that developed the industry. He rose from being a script supervisor to a production manager and thereafter co-produced Backstab (1996). He was involved as production manager in a string of award-winning films like Flesh & Blood (1995), Deadly Passion (1996), and one of the most successful Nigerian films of the 90s Igodo (1998). He co-directed Arrows of God (1998), Echoes (1999) and Fearless (1999). At the turn of the century - 2000, Ajakaiye directed and co-produced Infidelity. In 2006, he co-directed his first UK film titled Lust Control. He was involved in the making of the following short films; Fear (2010), Boots On The Ground (2014), and Fourscore (2017) all shot in the UK. He co-produced The Assassin's Practice shot in UK and Nigeria in 2011. The film's lead actor, Justus Esiri won the Best Actor award at the 2013 African Movies Academy Award (AMAA). As a director, Ajakaiye has to his credit nine commercially successful TV dramas in Nigeria e.g., One 2 Much (2000), Living For Tomorrow (2001-2003), Freeman's College (2003), 13 episodes of Super Story (2004), Binta & Friends (2004), White House (2005-2006), Pawns (2006), Heaven's Gate (2006) and Dear Mother (2010). In July 2010, he won the Most Outstanding TV drama Director Award at the 2010 Tava Awards. His versatility as a director is not restricted to directing films and TV dramas. He shot, directed, and edited a documentary shot in Switzerland titled An Honest Dialogue For a Clean and Just Africa (2006). He shot, edited, produced, and directed three documentaries in Sierra Leone i.e., Hope Sierra Leone (2007), A Helping Hand (2007), and Trapped in The Cemetery (2017). In 2013, he produced audio-visual campaign materials for South Sudan's National Healing and Reconciliation programme. In 2017, he produced, shot, edited, and directed a documentary titled My World of Wars, an insight to the effect of wars in South Sudan. In 2019, Ajakaiye co-authored a chapter in the book, Digital Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa.
