David Oyelowo, the British-Nigerian actor and filmmaker, recently shared an amusing story from his youth about using language to his advantage while attending boarding school in Nigeria.
Speaking on the One54 Africa Podcast, Oyelowo, now 50, recounted how his time living abroad gave him an accent that led classmates to assume he did not understand Yoruba, the local language.
Rather than correct their misconception, Oyelowo decided to play along. I used to speak Yoruba… I used it as a bit of a weapon,” he explained. “Because I had this accent going to Nigeria, I went to a boarding school and pretended I could not speak Yoruba.
This tactic allowed him to become, in his words, like the invisible man. He could eavesdrop on conversations, overhearing things people never expected him to understand. At around ages 12 and 13, Oyelowo would listen as girls who liked him discussed their feelings—an experience that, he admitted, once led to him dating twins at the same time.
If people are speaking the language they think you can’t speak or understand, you hear everything they’re saying, he said. For two years, every girl who liked me, I would hear them talking, and that’s how I ended up dating twins at the same time.
Oyelowo recalled the surprise on his classmates’ faces when, on his last day at the school, he spoke Yoruba fluently to everyone. “Their faces were so shocked, and I was just laughing,” he said.
Born on April 1, 1976, in Oxford, England, Oyelowo is the son of Nigerian parents. His father, Stephen, is from Oyo State, while his mother is Igbo from southeastern Nigeria.
