Shades Of Blue

Season 2 e.tv (*194) 20:30 Action

Dayo Okeniyi grew up wanting to be an actor after watching films from the Nollywood (Nigerian Hollywood) industry, but playing a role like Detective Loman on Shades Of Blue (2016-2018) never crossed his mind until 2003. “My family moved to Indiana and even then, I didn’t think that the industry would accept me. But here I am, working with Jennifer Lopez (as detective Harlee Santos). I think that I have done well for a young man from Lagos,” says the 30-year- old actor.

1 Dayo planned on working behind the scenes on productions and he studied visual communications, graduating from Anderson University in 2009. 2 His full name is Oladayo Okeniyi but he prefers Dayo, which is pronounced “Die-oh”. He says jokingly that “it’s easier for Americans to say”, which is the main reason for his nickname. 3 Dayo’s mom was a literary teacher from Kenya and wanted her five kids to get an education in the US. His dad is a retired customs official – they still live in the midwest state of Indiana. He got his first taste of Hollywood 4 in 2012 as Thresh in post-apocalyptic movie The Hunger Games. He’s also played Alec in post-apocalyptic series Revolution (2012-2014), as well as Danny in 2015 sci-fi film Terminator Genisys. Training for Hunger Games was 5 intense, explains Dayo: “They had me doing an hour-and-a-half of physical training, an hour-and-a-half of stunt choreography and all kinds of weapons training daily for two solid months.” And while he loved the show’s 6 action, his friends only wanted on thing, says Dayo: “They would ask me to take them on set to meet Jen.”