TV villain Ainea Ojiambo explains why he fits the profile

ELIZABETH NGIGI Lifestyle, Entertainment Journalist

07 September 2022

• Veteran actor Ainea Ojiambo said most directors think that he is perfectly able to portray such characters.

• Ainea Ojiambo jokes about moving away from bad guys to a more romantic role.

Veteran actor Ainea Ojiambo has explained why he plays the bad boy in most movies.

Ainea, famed for his days in Makutano Junction, Nairobi Half Life, and Demigods, said most directors think that he is perfectly able to portray such characters.

He is currently stirring on the political thriller series County 49 where he plays, Okusimba Sibi aka Ox, the deposed Governor of Bwatele County.

Ox plays a stereotypical African politician - charismatic, deeply corrupt, deeply loved by his supporters, and with just enough capacity for dictatorship if left to his own devices.

"And you know what they say, ‘If you can play a bad guy then you must be one of the best because playing a good guy is easy. Everybody can do it.’"

He’s mastered the art of playing corrupt men who are either at the top or very close to the top.

“Maybe it’s the authority that I have that makes me play those parts well,” he says.

“I study a lot of men in power, but I think maybe the roles find me because of my physique.”

Like any good TV villain, Ojiambo has had his fair share of hate from fans.

“Being a bad guy also comes with the hate, and this has been the case from my days in Makutano Junction to Demigods to Igiza,” he said.

And if the first two episodes of County 49 are anything to go by, then his new character Okusimba is about to make some viewers really mad, if they aren’t clenching their jaws already.

When we first meet him, Okusimba is facing criminal charges for abuse of office, treason, and corruption (and more), an onslaught that was led by the new governor Nerimah Mkung (Wakio Mzenge).

Okusimba is a man who’s more interested in politics, power, and money than family, as Ojiambo describes him.

He has a score to settle with the government, and his recent legal troubles, and unexpected conviction, strengthen this resolve, setting off a chain of events that threatens to bring Bwatele to its knees.

“He feels betrayed, and he feels that the country owes him because he fought for it,” Ojiambo says.

Ojiambo finds Okusimba interesting in many ways.

For instance, the way Okusimba’s monologues take him back to his early days on stage before he transitioned to TV.

“I used to do a lot of Shakespeare when I was young,” he reveals. “And my character Okusimba does a lot of monologues where I have to change characters in between.”

With these monologues, Ojiambo says he’s had to dig deeper to capture the emotion that each scene demands.

When he first read the script for County 49, he called director Likarion Wainaina.

He wanted to understand what Likarion saw in him that made him the perfect actor for such a role which he describes as his most challenging yet.

“I want you to do something that you’ve never done before,” Likarion told him.

As he ponders his next role, Ojiambo jokes about moving away from bad guys to a more romantic role.

“I think next time, I’ll go for an Alejandro type of character, a romantic guy so that I can show people I can also do romance, the kind of role that will make people cry when they see me frustrated in love,” he said.

The political thriller series County 49, premiered on Showmax in August.