By Iroyin Yoruba Television
Veteran Nigerian actor Richard Mofe-Damijo, popularly known as RMD, has reflected on the personal and professional values that have shaped his career, recalling the influence of his mother and his encounters with literary figures Wole Soyinka and J.P. Clark.
In an interview published on October 3, 2026, the veteran actor discussed how discipline, punctuality, responsibility and an awareness of personal representation have remained important principles throughout his career.
RMD said his understanding of responsibility began at home, where his mother repeatedly reminded him of his background and the responsibilities that came with representing his family.
The actor described himself as deeply attached to his mother while growing up and said her lessons remained influential long after he entered the entertainment industry.
One of the principles she impressed upon him was the importance of remembering where he came from and understanding that an individual can represent more than himself.
For RMD, that lesson became particularly relevant as his career developed.
An actor who becomes publicly recognised is no longer viewed only as a private individual. Professional conduct, punctuality, preparation and interactions with colleagues can influence how the wider public perceives the person and the industry he represents.
RMD said his mother's teachings helped him understand that responsibility could extend to the family, institutions and communities with which an individual is associated.
The veteran actor also recalled the impact of people he encountered during his professional development.
Among them were playwright and poet J.P. Clark and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.
RMD said the experience of working with accomplished figures in theatre helped reinforce the importance of discipline and punctuality.
He particularly recalled his encounter with Soyinka, whom he worked with as a director.
According to the actor, Soyinka's own approach to time influenced his understanding of professional punctuality.
RMD said that when a person was asked to arrive at a particular time, he believed the person should make an effort to arrive before that time rather than arriving exactly when the appointment begins.
For him, arriving early creates an opportunity to prepare before the actual engagement starts.
He described punctuality as part of a broader culture of professional responsibility.
The lesson became an important part of his working habits and, according to him, something he hopes people who encounter him can also learn from.
RMD's reflection offers an insight into the role that mentorship and professional environments can play in shaping careers in Nigeria's creative sector.
Actors often work with directors, writers, producers and senior performers whose approach to work can influence younger professionals.
The entertainment industry depends heavily on collaboration.
A film or stage production involves numerous people working according to schedules.
Actors need to arrive for rehearsals and filming.
Directors coordinate scenes and performances.
Production teams arrange locations, equipment and personnel.
Writers and other creative workers operate according to deadlines.
When one person fails to respect agreed schedules, the delay can affect several other people.
RMD's emphasis on punctuality therefore relates not only to personal discipline but also to the collaborative nature of entertainment production.
The actor's recollection of his mother, Soyinka and J.P. Clark also highlights the importance of learning from different stages of a professional career.
RMD has worked across several areas of the Nigerian creative and public sectors.
His career has included acting and other forms of entertainment work, while he also spent years in government.
That combination has given him experience in environments with different expectations and responsibilities.
He said his experience in government taught him another lesson about the relationship between personal values and institutions.
RMD served in government for eight years.
Reflecting on that period, he said government has significant potential to produce positive change because public officials have the ability to influence people's lives through policy and administration.
However, he also said systems can create pressures that affect individuals who enter them.
He explained that people entering public institutions need strong personal values if they are to maintain their principles while working within those systems.
His comments about government were part of a broader reflection on responsibility and personal values rather than a discussion of a specific current political development.
For the actor, the experience reinforced the importance of having principles that remain intact when circumstances change.
That lesson also connects with his earlier comments about his upbringing.
The values he learned from his mother, he suggested, continued to influence him in professional environments that were very different from his childhood.
The same principle can apply to the entertainment industry.
Creative careers can bring fame, commercial opportunities and public attention, but those opportunities can also create new pressures.
Actors may find themselves working with different personalities, navigating changing audience expectations and adapting to new technologies.
A strong professional foundation can help performers manage those changes.
RMD's career has developed across several periods of Nigeria's entertainment history.
He became known to television audiences through productions including Ripples and later became one of the recognised faces of Nollywood.
The Nigerian film industry has changed significantly since those earlier years.
Television, home-video productions, cinema and streaming platforms have each played major roles in different periods.
The commercial environment surrounding actors has therefore evolved.
Yet some aspects of professional work remain constant.
Preparation, reliability, collaboration and respect for colleagues remain relevant whether a production is made for television, cinema or a digital platform.
RMD's emphasis on those qualities reflects that continuity.
His recollection of J.P. Clark also points to the relationship between Nigerian theatre and the wider entertainment industry.
Several Nigerian actors have moved between stage, television and film, carrying lessons from one medium into another.
Theatre in particular places significant emphasis on rehearsal, live performance, timing and preparation.
Unlike film, where a scene can be repeated, edited and assembled during post-production, stage performances require actors to deliver in real time before an audience.
The discipline developed through theatre can therefore influence an actor's approach to other forms of performance.
RMD's encounters with figures such as Soyinka and J.P. Clark came during a period when theatre remained an important part of his professional development.
He said the people he worked with helped establish standards that he has carried throughout his career.
The actor's reflections also raise the issue of professional legacy.
Established entertainers often become reference points for younger performers.
The knowledge they accumulated over decades can provide useful lessons for people entering the industry.
RMD said he hopes that those who encounter him can also take something positive from their interactions with him.
That perspective places emphasis on the transmission of professional values from one generation to another.
The Nigerian entertainment industry has a large number of young performers seeking opportunities in film, television, music and digital content.
Social media has made it easier for young creatives to gain visibility, but visibility does not necessarily provide the same experience as long-term professional development.
Established performers can offer guidance based on their experience of different periods of the industry.
Lessons about preparation, punctuality and responsibility can be relevant regardless of the technology being used.
A film may now be distributed globally through streaming platforms, but the actors and production crew still need to arrive on set and complete their work according to schedule.
The basic professional requirements therefore remain.
RMD's comments also underline the importance of reputation.
An entertainment career can be influenced by how colleagues, producers, directors and audiences perceive a performer.
Professional reliability can affect whether people are willing to work with someone again.
Punctuality may appear to be a small part of that relationship, but repeated punctuality can communicate respect for other people's time.
Likewise, preparation can demonstrate that a performer understands the importance of the production.
For an actor with decades of experience, these principles can become part of a broader professional identity.
RMD's own description of his approach suggests that he sees punctuality not simply as a rule but as a reflection of personal discipline.
His example involving Soyinka illustrates how senior figures can influence younger professionals without necessarily providing formal lessons.
Sometimes professional behaviour itself becomes the lesson.
Watching a respected director arrive early, prepare carefully and expect the same standard from others can influence how a younger performer approaches work.
This type of informal mentorship has historically played an important role in creative industries.
The entertainment sector is often built around relationships and practical learning.
Young actors can learn by observing more experienced colleagues on set, during rehearsals or in production meetings.
They can also learn from mistakes and successes.
RMD's reflections provide an example of how those experiences can remain influential decades later.
The actor's relationship with the stage and screen also illustrates how careers can develop through different forms of performance.
An individual may begin in one area and later move across different aspects of the industry.
Such movement can provide broader understanding of the creative process.
RMD has built a public identity that extends beyond acting.
His experience in government also placed him in a completely different environment from the entertainment industry.
The transition between those worlds required different forms of responsibility.
In entertainment, an actor's performance is visible to audiences.
In government, decisions can affect public institutions and citizens.
RMD said his time in government showed him the potential that public institutions have to produce positive change while also teaching him about the challenges of working within established systems.
The lesson he drew from that experience was the importance of strong personal values.
He said people should understand when they are unable to change a system and, in such circumstances, consider creating new environments where they can build differently.
His observation reflects a broader idea about professional independence.
People sometimes enter institutions with expectations that they will be able to change them immediately.
In reality, institutions often contain established procedures, cultures and interests.
Changing them can require time, persistence and collaboration.
RMD's comments suggest that personal principles can provide a reference point when working through those complexities.
The same principle can apply to creative institutions.
Actors and filmmakers may encounter production cultures they do not agree with.
Professional organisations may have limitations.
Creative businesses may operate under commercial pressures.
In each situation, individual values can influence how professionals respond.
RMD's career demonstrates how an entertainer can move between different professional environments without completely separating the values learned in one from the expectations of another.
His mother's lessons about responsibility followed him into his career.
His encounters with theatre figures reinforced punctuality and discipline.
His government experience gave him another perspective on institutions and public responsibility.
Those experiences now form part of the story he tells about his career.
The timing of the interview is also significant because it was published during Nigeria's Independence Anniversary period.
RMD connected his reflections on personal responsibility with the broader idea of what people represent.
He said individuals can represent families, institutions and other communities at different stages of their lives.
For a public figure, that responsibility can become more visible because professional actions can attract public attention.
Actors are often recognised beyond the characters they play.
Their public appearances, interviews and professional conduct can shape how audiences understand them.
That is why the actor's emphasis on personal discipline extends beyond the workplace.
RMD's career has made him one of the familiar figures associated with Nigerian screen entertainment, meaning his professional experiences are often discussed as part of the wider history of Nollywood.
His latest comments therefore provide an opportunity to consider the values that have accompanied that journey.
Rather than focusing on awards or individual productions, the actor concentrated on the people and experiences that influenced his approach to work.
His mother provided the earliest foundation.
J.P. Clark and Soyinka represented another stage of his development.
Government provided a different professional environment.
Each experience contributed to his understanding of responsibility.
The story also demonstrates how mentorship can cross generations.
Soyinka and J.P. Clark belonged to an earlier generation of Nigerian cultural figures.
RMD belongs to a generation that helped build the television and film industries that became central to modern Nigerian popular culture.
Today's younger actors and filmmakers are now developing their careers in an even more digital environment.
The lessons passed from one generation to another can therefore help connect different eras of Nigerian entertainment.
Professional discipline is one such lesson.
Technology may change the way films are produced and distributed, but a production still depends on people working together.
Punctuality, preparation and responsibility remain relevant.
Another lesson is the importance of remembering that success comes with representation.
A performer may begin as an individual pursuing a personal ambition, but professional success can eventually connect that person to a family, production company, professional association and national creative industry.
How the person behaves can affect those wider relationships.
RMD said this awareness has remained important to him.
His reflections also show that a long entertainment career is not built exclusively through talent.
Talent can provide an entry point, but professional habits can influence whether opportunities continue.
Actors have to learn lines, understand characters, respond to directors, work with other performers and meet production schedules.
They also have to adapt as the industry changes.
The combination of talent and professional discipline can therefore become an important part of sustaining a career.
RMD's own longevity provides context for his comments.
He has worked across several generations of Nigerian entertainment and continues to participate in the industry.
His experience gives him a perspective on how professional expectations have evolved and which principles have remained constant.
The actor's message is ultimately centred on responsibility.
He believes people should understand what they represent and should approach professional commitments with seriousness.
His recollections of his mother, Soyinka and J.P. Clark show how those values were reinforced at different points in his life.
The story also offers a reminder of the role of mentors in Nigeria's creative sector.
Senior professionals can influence younger entertainers not only through formal teaching but through the example they set.
A culture of punctuality, preparation and respect can become part of an industry's professional standard when experienced practitioners model those behaviours.
RMD said he hopes those who encounter him can similarly learn from his approach.
That desire to pass knowledge forward is an important part of sustaining creative industries.
Nollywood's continued growth will require new performers, directors, writers, producers and technical professionals.
The younger generation will develop new styles and use new technologies, but they will also inherit a professional history built by those who came before them.
The experiences of veterans can help provide context for that history.
RMD's latest reflections contribute to that conversation by identifying discipline, punctuality and responsibility as lessons that have remained central throughout his career.
His story also shows how professional values can survive changes in career direction.
From theatre and television to film and public service, he said the principles he learned early in life remained relevant.
As he continues his career, the veteran actor's reflections provide an example of how personal values, mentorship and professional discipline can influence a creative journey spanning decades.
For younger entertainers entering Nigeria's rapidly changing creative economy, his message is straightforward: talent needs preparation, opportunities require responsibility, and professional relationships can become an important source of lifelong lessons.
RMD's recollection of the people who shaped him therefore becomes more than a personal memory.
It is also a reflection on the culture of Nigerian performance and the importance of passing professional standards from one generation to the next.
The veteran actor's career continues to provide a bridge between earlier forms of Nigerian entertainment and the modern industry, while his latest comments place discipline and responsibility at the centre of that journey.