PAUL OGOLA ON WHY HE QUIT ACTING BEFORE LANDING THE ROLE OF JELA ON SENSE8

Celebrated Kenyan actor Paul Ogola has featured in many films and TV shows, and his big break came in 2012 when he starred in the Kenyan drama film Nairobi Half Life. However, Paul earned significant recognition when he bagged the role of Jela in the Netflix series Sense8 by the Wachowski sisters: Lana and Lilly Wachowski. 

In an interview with Buzz Central, Paul said he had quit acting months before landing the role of Jela, “I had pretty much quit acting after Nairobi Half Life. Nothing was coming for two years. This industry can be so ruthless. At some point at some point it was really dry. There are tiers in this industry. There are people who don’t experience the dry season. 

But if you belong from a certain tier going down, you’ll never know when it’s green, or when it’s dry. You just find yourself in those situations. If you find yourself working, that’s when you are like so this industry exists, because now you will meet people who are always busy. Right now, there are very few skilled crew members because these people are rotated on sets. When a production ends, they automatically know where they’re going next.”

Paul worked for Protel Studios as an editor to pay his bills, “I had become a video editor, and I was editing Hapa Kule news for Protel Studios and some Kikuyu shows just to pay bills. And to keep myself sane because as an artist, you have to somehow be creating something.”

The Crime and Justice actor says when he was called to audition for Sense8, he didn’t know it was a Hollywood series, “Nini Wacera called me to audition for Jela. When I saw Jela I never knew what Netflix was about and they never pretty much showed me who’s in the project. I never knew the Wachowskis that much. But I knew a movie they did, the Matrix. When I was told I landed the role of Jela I signed an NDA and that was when they told me about the project.”