Nollywood Veteran Madam Saje Recalls Career Hardships Involving Stolen Food and Unpaid Labor

Actress Fausat Balogun discusses the extreme hardships of her early career, from stealing food to unpaid film sets, in a new interview on industry resilience.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 6, 2026, 6:38 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from The Nation

The Gritty Reality Behind a Cinematic Legacy

The narrative of Nollywood success often masks a foundation of significant personal sacrifice and destitution, as recently illustrated by Fausat Balogun. Known professionally as Madam Saje, the veteran actress shared intimate details of a career beginning defined by financial instability and the desperate measures required to maintain a presence in the arts. Her reflections serve as a sobering reminder that the glamour currently associated with the Nigerian film sector was preceded by a period of extreme trial for its pioneering figures.

Desperate Measures in the Pursuit of Art

Survival during the early years of Balogun's career was not guaranteed by talent alone, leading to moments of moral and physical crisis. The actress admitted that the level of hardship reached a point where she and her professional peers were forced to steal food simply to avoid starvation. This revelation underscores the lack of a social safety net or reliable income streams for actors during the industry's formative years, painting a picture of a community driven more by shared suffering and passion than by commercial gain.

The Burden of Uncompensated Creative Labor

Beyond the immediate struggle for sustenance, Balogun highlighted the systemic issue of wage theft and unpaid work that plagued the sector. She recounted a specific instance involving a production filmed at a school location where the entire crew worked to completion only to receive no payment whatsoever. According to Balogun, the team returned home empty-handed, a scenario she described as a common, yet harsh reality that many contemporary stars had to navigate before the industry reached its current level of professionalization.