11 September 2023 , 13:44
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Top Boy star Araloyin Oshunremi has revealed that he landed the role of Stef in the popular Netflix drama due to a last minuute decision to trim his hair at a random barbershop.
For most men, they tend to show loyalty to one particular barber who they trust with doing their hair - and jumping from one to another is seldom heard of. During an interview on Capital Xtra Breakfast with Robert Bruce and Shayna Marie, the 18 year old star who has shot to fame since auditioning for the season three role, explained: "Well, I done acting in school year seven, eight, drama stuff, you know, everyone does it, but I actually liked it as well. "
Araloyin Oshunremi plays Stef in the hot Netflix drama (Ali Painter/Netflix)He added: "At the same time, I was just focused on football, but then I went to a barbershop on a random Sunday. A barbershop that I never go to ever, it was all about open Hackney that time as well, and a street caster came to me with a flyer and said, 'do you want to audition for Top Boy?'I was like, 'You know, let's go for it' and then from then everything fell into place."
When questioned further on how he ended up in another barbershop in Hackney, London, he went on to tell Robert: "No, let me tell you what happened. I didn’t want to cheat on my barber but my boy Mojo said, 'listen, we need to get a trim cause we’re going back to school on Monday.' And that’s the only place open, cause it was a bank holiday Sunday, it was a long time ago and I’m thinking, 'man can’t go back to school with no trim', so I just went on a temporary vacation." Araloyin also revealed that his mother is his main supporter and after recognising that he was not at the same level as his brother when it came to playing football, she encouraged him to focus on another dream - acting.
He continued: "The one thing I love about her, whatever I want to do, she'll push it. When I was playing football, she was pushing me but, at the same time, I wasn't at the level of my older brother. So, she was like, 'football is not your calling but there’s something… something's coming, but we don't know where it is yet.' She was just praying, praying about it. Obviously when acting landed, that's when she started supporting me even more, 'See, that’s the path.' "
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In the last season, Stef's older brother Jamie Tovell, played by Michael Ward, was killed on his doorstep by Sully, played by rapper Kano - and Stef witnessed it all. And while Stef's remaining brother's Aaron fled the Summerhouse estate to pursue a career in marketing in Leeds, Stef stayed in London, living at the estate.
Having seen Sully stroll around the area causing trouble wherever he went, Stef managed to get his hands on a gun in a bid to take revenge on his brother's killer. But when it finally came to pulling the trigger, Stef was not able to go through with it and simply told Sully that he was not worth it. But Araloyin has revealed that he didn't agree with the writer's decision to end his character's journey in that way, as he felt it wasn't realisitic.
He said: "They just told me my scene, they didn't tell me about anything else. They literally just told me 'you're going to have to do this scene with Sully.' When I was listening to them, I was thinking ‘I get what you guys are trying to do.’ But at the same time no kid – who has had both their parents die, their best friend die, their older brother die, the person who was taking care of them while their brother was in jail die – is not going to shoot their brother's killer right in front of them." He added: "So I was like: ‘OK, cool. I get that, you want to get him away from that cycle but if we're being realistic, anyone in that position is killing him.’ But at the same time, it's a TV show.”
Capital XTRA Breakfast with Robert Bruce & Shayna Marie, weekdays 6.30am – 10am, on Global Player.