‘I believe I was put on this earth to make people laugh’
Holby City actor, Chizzy Akudolu, 47, lives in London with her cat, Bootsy
The biggest lesson I’ve learned in life is not everyone is going to like you, but their opinion doesn’t matter. As long as you’ve got your family and your core people, and as long as you love yourself – that’s all that matters. You can’t please everybody, and what a boring world it would be if we could.
Acting has taught me how to put myself in somebody else’s position. You really do walk a mile in someone else’s shoes when you’re playing a character. It can be draining, especially when you’re doing something around grief. You must leave that at work, but I wouldn’t change it – I love it.
My career has taught me that you never know what’s coming next. One minute you could be sitting at home for three weeks going, ‘Maybe I should get that job in the supermarket,’ then an audition comes in and you’re working for a couple of months. It’s so unpredictable. I still have a motto: ‘Live for today, save for tomorrow.’ You really do need money to get you through those rainy days, and my gosh we had a hurricane in 2020.
Years of rejection in the industry has helped me grow a thick skin. If I said rejection doesn’t bother me, I’d be lying. But you really do have to think, ‘If it’s for me, it won’t pass me by.’ If you don’t get a job, you have to let it go. You can’t hold on to it.
If I didn’t go into acting, I would have liked to have worked for the
FBI catching serial killers. I’ve always been obsessed with them. I don’t idolise them, but I do find them fascinating.
I lost my mum during the pandemic and it was devastating. She passed in November and that was the real cherry on top of 2020. I remember thinking, ‘When was the last time I hugged this woman?’ I don’t think I even hugged her in 2020. If I could just have one more day to do everything, I wish I could because it was just so sudden.
The Black Lives Matter movement and the death of George Floyd was one of the most painful things that I have ever seen. Nobody wanted anyone to die for the movement to progress. I remember coming off social media for about a month afterwards because I couldn’t deal with people. It hurt a lot and made me fear for everybody.
Growing up, my parents taught me that you have to work for what you want. Both my parents were grafters and it taught us to be grafters. I had my first job at 15, working in a chicken shop. If you wanted money, you had to work for it.
Having downtime during lockdown taught me that I want to work, but it also showed me that I can survive without it. I’ve learned more about balance and how important it is to take some time out for yourself and chill. In lockdown, you could just lie on the sofa and eat. And eat. And eat some more. It’s all fun and games until the jeans don’t fit!
I am the sort of person who will always try to make my friends laugh. I can be serious when I need to be but most of the time my therapy is laughter. I always want to make people feel good about themselves. We tell our friends they’re the most incredible people in the world, but sometimes we can’t take that kind of advice ourselves. I believe I was put on this earth to make people laugh.
✢ Chizzy stars in psychological drama Too Close, available on the ITV Hub.