Babs Olusanmokun has emerged as a captivating force in the entertainment industry, capturing the attention of distinguished film directors such as Phillip Noyce, Jeymes Samuels, Denis Villeneuve, Nicholas Winding Refn, Guy Richie and others.Since his breakthrough in Hollywood, his trajectory has been nothing short of stellar, marked by a series of standout performances that have fortified an impressive resume. He was recently seen in Jeymes Samuels’s Sony/Legendary film “The Book of Clarence” in the scene-stealing role of Asher The Torturer, alongside an incredible cast including David Oyelowo, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Lakeith Stanfield and he reteams with director Guy Ritchie for the upcoming film “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” opposite Henry Cavill and Eiza Gonzalez (US April 19th) after having previously appeared in Ritchie’s 2021 movie “Wrath of Man.”He currently stars in the Emmy Award-nominated “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” on Paramount+ as Chief Medical Officer Joseph M’Benga that is currently in production on Season 3 in Toronto.Mr. Olusanmokun appeared as Jamis, in Denis Villeneuve's Academy Award-winning film “Dune,” alongside Timothee Chalamet. He will also be seen in the upcoming “Dune” sequel coming out on March 1. His first stand out role was as Omoro Kinte in the 2016 reboot of the miniseries “Roots” with Forest Whitaker for director Phillip Noyce. Other credits include: the Amazon Prime, award-winning series “The Widow,” opposite Kate Beckinsale as well as the neo-noir miniseries “Too Old to Die Young,” from famed Danish art house director Nicholas Winding Refn and opposite Miles Teller and Jena Malone, the riveting "Black Museum" episode of the 2017 award-winning anthology series "Black Mirror, " Amazon’s “Sneaky Pete,” Fox’s “Gotham,” HBO’s “The Night Of” with Riz Ahmed, and Acorn TV’s “The Drowning.” Theater credits include Yale Repertory- In a Year With 13 Moons opposite Bill Camp and Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer winning Ruined. Mr. Olusanmokun began his acting journey in New York City. He currently resides in London. In addition to his career in film, he is a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt Champion, adding another dimension to his multifaceted persona.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, good morning, good morning. So you know, first of all,
I was fine with your name,and then they sent me how to
say it phonetically. Now I'm messedup. It's all right, I messed
up. So so bab's olusun mlkun. That's what I was going to say.
Is that wrong? Beautiful? Beautifulbeautiful, that's it. That's okay.
I'm not looking at the phonetic.Then the phonetic had me saying it
(00:22):
messed up. But before we evenget into your incredible career, first of
all, I'm fangirling. My palmsare sweaty. You're so incredibly talented.
But I don't even talk about thatright now. My sister lives in in
London. Where are you? Ohactually I'm in Toronto right now. Oh
Toronto. Yeah, yeah, I'mback shooting Star Trek, you know,
my third uson No Straight New World, you know. So yeah, so
(00:47):
that's where we are, and uh, it's pretty cool. I thought I
thought for some reason I heard thatyou were in the UK. I was
like, oh my god, thatwould be so so crazy. But yes,
doctor Benga, you are fantastic.I'm that we watch you. So
three seasons of that show an iconicshow to be tagged with write your name
along with that, and then youput Dune into the mix, which has
(01:10):
made four hundred billion trillion dollars.Right, I think it's not I'm not
like, I'm not a good fastperson. Now, it's my husband is
such a huge Dune fan. Youdo a great job as jamis by the
way, and we my husband watchesthat show to the point where it makes
(01:30):
me angry. Now, no offenseto any Dune people or people who produced
it, but like, I'll fallasleep and I'll this is this is what
happens. I fall asleep on thecouch and then and this is what wakes
me up. And I'm like,are you listening and watching Dune again?
Because that's all I hear is theAnd I'm like because the music track,
and he and he's like counting downthe days saw it at the theater.
(01:52):
But then he's like, okay,and then we can rent it. It's
coming out today. It comes outtoday on like platforms. And he's like,
yeah, it's twenty six ninety nineto rent. I'm like, sir,
you can wait for HBO Max wherewe can watch it for free.
We already went. I don't wantto take money away from your residuals,
Babs, Seriously, I don't,but I have I need a break.
I need a break a little bit. Set. I hear you, I
(02:14):
hear you. Dune fans heart helisten. He Dune fans do not play.
They don't mess with a Dune fan. That is my and actually myself
as well. He just takes itto another level. But O god,
you've had such a career. Iwant to stop talking here because first of
(02:35):
all, we've got Doune two andthat's out today, so let me take
that number one and then we'll goto obviously I want to talk about ministry
of ungentlemanly war for but let's takeDune from the beginning. How how did
that role and process go for you? And how did how did you get
led to Doune? You know,really it was incredible. I was still
(02:55):
living in New York City, Brooklynat the time, and I got this
call from my agent who was inthe UK at the time, and he's
like, we've got this offer foryou and it's done, and and my
first response was Dune being easily newsDune because I'm just you know, you
(03:15):
know, and from the beginning,I'm I'm a massive fan of Denne since
his first film, and yeah,so he's like, yes, this is
an offer, direct offer, butplease let's say yes quickly, right,
And uh, of course I didthat, you know. Uh, Initially
I was like, wait, isit a guy that just crosses the screen
(03:38):
once or you know what, Like, it's a small role. He was
told, it's a small role,but it's important. Uh, it's important
to the film, and that's allI needed to hear. And I was
on board and I met Dennie andhe was very, very welcome and very
lovely. Uh told me, ifyou don't want to do this, Pats,
I understand because it's small and Ithink you should be playing bigger roles.
(04:01):
And I was like, Denny,I love your work. I will
serve this film and I will giveyou something, something that will stay.
And yeah, and it was ajoy to go through the process of working
on it. Well, fantastic culture. That's so funny you said that,
because I would never have thought thatfrom watching the first June four hundred and
(04:26):
ninety five times. Because that's yeah, that's true, it's probably five hundred.
But in any event, I don'tand would not assume that your role
was small, as I wouldn't ofanybody that was a part of it,
because everybody's character so pivotal, andyour like demeanor, the way that you
(04:48):
look, it's so impactful, andjust what you said just then when you
said I'll give you something that'll stayis probably the best way to describe your
character because until you said that,which I don't think, I'm not your
pr person, but I don't wantyou to going further to say that again,
because I would not have in mymind, as a fan and viewer
(05:11):
and even as a person in theentament industry, would not have thought that
that was a small role. Honestly. Yeah, you know, the reality
is yes, no role is eversmall, they say, and they tell
us, you know, at actingclass, But but the truth is on
paper, Yeah, that's true,he actually is. We started filming,
(05:33):
he started expanding it for me,and you know, the vision stuff,
he started writing that in uh forme. You know, those weren't things
that were on the page. Ohmy gosh, that's that's so interesting to
know because honestly, we love likeyour kid. You've got like I would
not want to get in a stareoff competition with you, I just wouldn't
(05:56):
you would win. Well. Thegood thing is I can be a very
gentle steer. Yeah, all right, let's move to I do want to
quickly touch on Star Trek and StrangeNew Worlds. And I know that it's
filming in Toronto right now, andthat's why I got computer. Anyway,
it doesn't matter. But the pointis is that that's another sci fi you
(06:18):
know. I guess what is it? Feather in your cap or what have
you? Have? You always beendrawn to sort of sci fi dystopian type
roles, you know, I wouldsay, I would say I wasn't a
nerd about it, and I loveall the nerds out there, and I
(06:40):
wish to be a nerd really,you know. But I did love the
adventure of sci fi. I lovethe promise of sci fi, the expansiveness
of sci fi, and you know, just watching the Star Wars and all
that, you know, as akid in Star Trek, you know,
but I wasn't. I can't sayI was obsessed with them. I watched
(07:04):
them, you know, and Itruly truly enjoyed them. And I'm solo
like you know, the adventures,and you know, I love that stuff.
So for me, it was alwaysabout excitement, the excitement of film,
you know, the rhythm of thefilm, the music, you know,
uh, just the sound. Allof that I was very attracted to.
(07:27):
And you know, you can't mapout a career. You could try,
and you know, if you,if you, if you're lucky initially,
then certain things fall into place.But mine is a road of you
know, a road of acting classesover many many, many many years in
New York City to you know,small black box theaters we'd call them,
(07:48):
you know, with thirty seats orsixty seats, you know, and you
know, finding my way to toguest starring on you know, Law and
Order and all of that stuff,and then my in my way into these
big pieces. Like I didn't mapit out. I just always wanted to
do quality work and get the opportunityto land in front of people that say,
(08:11):
yes, you you should come thisway, you know, And it
wasn't always easy at all. Andit shouldn't be right not to interrupt you.
It shouldn't be because now you're goingto have a lasting career. You
you're you have that stay power.Blessed you, bless you, bless you,
and and that's it. You justwant to build quality upon quality,
(08:33):
and really, you know, Ithink quality just somehow started finding me,
uh you know, and that's Ithink that's really it. You do one
thing that the right person appreciates,you know. And in my case,
it might have been Roots, youknow, the the remaking of Roots back
(08:54):
in twenty fifteen to open and cameout in twenty sixteen, and I think,
yeah, and I think things arespilled from there and these just amazing
things have come my way, andyou know, and sometimes it just hand
it to me, and sometimes I'vehad to, you know, fight for
it, and you know, well, I know, I know, I
know, we only have a littlebit of time, so I I kills
(09:16):
me to have to interrupt you,but I don't want to leave without obviously
the movie Ministry of a generally warfarethat's this weekend. Yeah, so it's
it's this weekend. Tell us allabout it. It is an exciting World
War two film, Die Richie Style, and it's, in my opinion,
one of Guy's Die Richings best films. It really lands. It is fun.
(09:41):
It is something you should watch withfriends. It's not something you know,
you watch it alone. You willlaugh but if you watch it with
friends, it's even gonna be sweeter. Uh. It's a movie for the
movies, is what I say.It's a fantastic movie. It's that kind
of movie that takes you back toyour childhood where you're just laughing and enjoy
and you're in communion with the screen, you know, and with these characters,
(10:05):
and I think it's Yeah, it'sa fantastic one. So I'm very
excited about it. April nineteen yep, and yeah, opens everywhere there.
And I do want to say it'sbased off I don't know, because it's
Guy Ritchie, all right, sothere's going to be some good one liners
and it's going to be fast dialogue, right. But it's based loosely and
a true story. Absolutely. It'sabout the Special Operations Executive Unit which was
(10:30):
created by which was a Gerla covertunit created by Winston Churchill during World War
Two when he realized they could notfight the German war machine head on and
they had to rely on Gerola warfareand sabotage and techniques and espionage, and
he created this unit that the warcabinet, his war cabinet did not want
him to do because they wanted tobe gentlemanly about the war, and he
(10:54):
realized this war was an ungentlemanly affair, hence the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Well, let me tell you something. You keep making movies that my husband
is going to make me watch amillion times. Now. I like them.
I am your fan, trust me, I am your fan. But
I think you and my husband,you and my husband need to go have
a beer or something because I knowtonight it's my home is being taken over
(11:18):
by Doune. That's okay, Iappreciate it. This weekend I'll be seeing
this ministry of ungentlemanly warfare. He'salready hooked into Star Trek. I think
you've been over my house more thanmy mom in my living room on my
TV. I think, Babs,I am like not even kidding you.
I wish you nothing but success.I wish we could talk longer. I
know that we can't, but Ihope you'll come back and chat with me
(11:39):
again. Someday. I absolutely willbe back. Thank you so so much.
Thank you, and thank you audiencemembers. Thank you. Have a
great day.
Hello, good morning, good morning. So you know, first of all,
I was fine with your name,and then they sent me how to
say it phonetically. Now I'm messedup. It's all right, I messed
up. So so bab's olusun mlkun. That's what I was going to say.
Is that wrong? Beautiful? Beautifulbeautiful, that's it. That's okay.
I'm not looking at the phonetic.Then the phonetic had me saying it
(00:22):
messed up. But before we evenget into your incredible career, first of
all, I'm fangirling. My palmsare sweaty. You're so incredibly talented.
But I don't even talk about thatright now. My sister lives in in
London. Where are you? Ohactually I'm in Toronto right now. Oh
Toronto. Yeah, yeah, I'mback shooting Star Trek, you know,
my third uson No Straight New World, you know. So yeah, so
(00:47):
that's where we are, and uh, it's pretty cool. I thought I
thought for some reason I heard thatyou were in the UK. I was
like, oh my god, thatwould be so so crazy. But yes,
doctor Benga, you are fantastic.I'm that we watch you. So
three seasons of that show an iconicshow to be tagged with write your name
along with that, and then youput Dune into the mix, which has
(01:10):
made four hundred billion trillion dollars.Right, I think it's not I'm not
like, I'm not a good fastperson. Now, it's my husband is
such a huge Dune fan. Youdo a great job as jamis by the
way, and we my husband watchesthat show to the point where it makes
(01:30):
me angry. Now, no offenseto any Dune people or people who produced
it, but like, I'll fallasleep and I'll this is this is what
happens. I fall asleep on thecouch and then and this is what wakes
me up. And I'm like,are you listening and watching Dune again?
Because that's all I hear is theAnd I'm like because the music track,
and he and he's like counting downthe days saw it at the theater.
(01:52):
But then he's like, okay,and then we can rent it. It's
coming out today. It comes outtoday on like platforms. And he's like,
yeah, it's twenty six ninety nineto rent. I'm like, sir,
you can wait for HBO Max wherewe can watch it for free.
We already went. I don't wantto take money away from your residuals,
Babs, Seriously, I don't,but I have I need a break.
I need a break a little bit. Set. I hear you, I
(02:14):
hear you. Dune fans heart helisten. He Dune fans do not play.
They don't mess with a Dune fan. That is my and actually myself
as well. He just takes itto another level. But O god,
you've had such a career. Iwant to stop talking here because first of
(02:35):
all, we've got Doune two andthat's out today, so let me take
that number one and then we'll goto obviously I want to talk about ministry
of ungentlemanly war for but let's takeDune from the beginning. How how did
that role and process go for you? And how did how did you get
led to Doune? You know,really it was incredible. I was still
(02:55):
living in New York City, Brooklynat the time, and I got this
call from my agent who was inthe UK at the time, and he's
like, we've got this offer foryou and it's done, and and my
first response was Dune being easily newsDune because I'm just you know, you
(03:15):
know, and from the beginning,I'm I'm a massive fan of Denne since
his first film, and yeah,so he's like, yes, this is
an offer, direct offer, butplease let's say yes quickly, right,
And uh, of course I didthat, you know. Uh, Initially
I was like, wait, isit a guy that just crosses the screen
(03:38):
once or you know what, Like, it's a small role. He was
told, it's a small role,but it's important. Uh, it's important
to the film, and that's allI needed to hear. And I was
on board and I met Dennie andhe was very, very welcome and very
lovely. Uh told me, ifyou don't want to do this, Pats,
I understand because it's small and Ithink you should be playing bigger roles.
(04:01):
And I was like, Denny,I love your work. I will
serve this film and I will giveyou something, something that will stay.
And yeah, and it was ajoy to go through the process of working
on it. Well, fantastic culture. That's so funny you said that,
because I would never have thought thatfrom watching the first June four hundred and
(04:26):
ninety five times. Because that's yeah, that's true, it's probably five hundred.
But in any event, I don'tand would not assume that your role
was small, as I wouldn't ofanybody that was a part of it,
because everybody's character so pivotal, andyour like demeanor, the way that you
(04:48):
look, it's so impactful, andjust what you said just then when you
said I'll give you something that'll stayis probably the best way to describe your
character because until you said that,which I don't think, I'm not your
pr person, but I don't wantyou to going further to say that again,
because I would not have in mymind, as a fan and viewer
(05:11):
and even as a person in theentament industry, would not have thought that
that was a small role. Honestly. Yeah, you know, the reality
is yes, no role is eversmall, they say, and they tell
us, you know, at actingclass, But but the truth is on
paper, Yeah, that's true,he actually is. We started filming,
(05:33):
he started expanding it for me,and you know, the vision stuff,
he started writing that in uh forme. You know, those weren't things
that were on the page. Ohmy gosh, that's that's so interesting to
know because honestly, we love likeyour kid. You've got like I would
not want to get in a stareoff competition with you, I just wouldn't
(05:56):
you would win. Well. Thegood thing is I can be a very
gentle steer. Yeah, all right, let's move to I do want to
quickly touch on Star Trek and StrangeNew Worlds. And I know that it's
filming in Toronto right now, andthat's why I got computer. Anyway,
it doesn't matter. But the pointis is that that's another sci fi you
(06:18):
know. I guess what is it? Feather in your cap or what have
you? Have? You always beendrawn to sort of sci fi dystopian type
roles, you know, I wouldsay, I would say I wasn't a
nerd about it, and I loveall the nerds out there, and I
(06:40):
wish to be a nerd really,you know. But I did love the
adventure of sci fi. I lovethe promise of sci fi, the expansiveness
of sci fi, and you know, just watching the Star Wars and all
that, you know, as akid in Star Trek, you know,
but I wasn't. I can't sayI was obsessed with them. I watched
(07:04):
them, you know, and Itruly truly enjoyed them. And I'm solo
like you know, the adventures,and you know, I love that stuff.
So for me, it was alwaysabout excitement, the excitement of film,
you know, the rhythm of thefilm, the music, you know,
uh, just the sound. Allof that I was very attracted to.
(07:27):
And you know, you can't mapout a career. You could try,
and you know, if you,if you, if you're lucky initially,
then certain things fall into place.But mine is a road of you
know, a road of acting classesover many many, many many years in
New York City to you know,small black box theaters we'd call them,
(07:48):
you know, with thirty seats orsixty seats, you know, and you
know, finding my way to toguest starring on you know, Law and
Order and all of that stuff,and then my in my way into these
big pieces. Like I didn't mapit out. I just always wanted to
do quality work and get the opportunityto land in front of people that say,
(08:11):
yes, you you should come thisway, you know, And it
wasn't always easy at all. Andit shouldn't be right not to interrupt you.
It shouldn't be because now you're goingto have a lasting career. You
you're you have that stay power.Blessed you, bless you, bless you,
and and that's it. You justwant to build quality upon quality,
(08:33):
and really, you know, Ithink quality just somehow started finding me,
uh you know, and that's Ithink that's really it. You do one
thing that the right person appreciates,you know. And in my case,
it might have been Roots, youknow, the the remaking of Roots back
(08:54):
in twenty fifteen to open and cameout in twenty sixteen, and I think,
yeah, and I think things arespilled from there and these just amazing
things have come my way, andyou know, and sometimes it just hand
it to me, and sometimes I'vehad to, you know, fight for
it, and you know, well, I know, I know, I
know, we only have a littlebit of time, so I I kills
(09:16):
me to have to interrupt you,but I don't want to leave without obviously
the movie Ministry of a generally warfarethat's this weekend. Yeah, so it's
it's this weekend. Tell us allabout it. It is an exciting World
War two film, Die Richie Style, and it's, in my opinion,
one of Guy's Die Richings best films. It really lands. It is fun.
(09:41):
It is something you should watch withfriends. It's not something you know,
you watch it alone. You willlaugh but if you watch it with
friends, it's even gonna be sweeter. Uh. It's a movie for the
movies, is what I say.It's a fantastic movie. It's that kind
of movie that takes you back toyour childhood where you're just laughing and enjoy
and you're in communion with the screen, you know, and with these characters,
(10:05):
and I think it's Yeah, it'sa fantastic one. So I'm very
excited about it. April nineteen yep, and yeah, opens everywhere there.
And I do want to say it'sbased off I don't know, because it's
Guy Ritchie, all right, sothere's going to be some good one liners
and it's going to be fast dialogue, right. But it's based loosely and
a true story. Absolutely. It'sabout the Special Operations Executive Unit which was
(10:30):
created by which was a Gerla covertunit created by Winston Churchill during World War
Two when he realized they could notfight the German war machine head on and
they had to rely on Gerola warfareand sabotage and techniques and espionage, and
he created this unit that the warcabinet, his war cabinet did not want
him to do because they wanted tobe gentlemanly about the war, and he
(10:54):
realized this war was an ungentlemanly affair, hence the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Well, let me tell you something. You keep making movies that my husband
is going to make me watch amillion times. Now. I like them.
I am your fan, trust me, I am your fan. But
I think you and my husband,you and my husband need to go have
a beer or something because I knowtonight it's my home is being taken over
(11:18):
by Doune. That's okay, Iappreciate it. This weekend I'll be seeing
this ministry of ungentlemanly warfare. He'salready hooked into Star Trek. I think
you've been over my house more thanmy mom in my living room on my
TV. I think, Babs,I am like not even kidding you.
I wish you nothing but success.I wish we could talk longer. I
know that we can't, but Ihope you'll come back and chat with me
(11:39):
again. Someday. I absolutely willbe back. Thank you so so much.
Thank you, and thank you audiencemembers. Thank you. Have a
great day.
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