Olaniyi Afonja is one of the most sought after Yoruba Actor. Popularly referred to as Sanyeri, Olaniyi Afonja is a native of Oyo state where he had his primary education at St. Michael and later went on to study at Durbar grammar school both in Oyo state.
Although their is really no record of the comic actor attending an higher institution of learning, instead he joined theatre groups and started acting stage play in his state as early as 1992 and he did that for 3 years before proceeding to Lagos in 1996.
From Lagos, Sanyeri continued with his acting and soon he became an household name most especially for his movie “Opa kan” which was a massive hit movie.
Sanyeri met his wife Hawau Omolara Afonja back in 2004. Initially the lady had come to the National theatre to watch Sanyeri’s first movie “Eni Okan” which was showing that day.
He approached her and although she did not really gave him the greenlight, he was able to pressurize her by collecting her mum’s phone number.
He called her but the mum refused to let her daughter speak to Sanyeri because the daughter did not want to speak to him. After some constant pestering, the mother persuaded the daughter and their love story began.
The couple who met in 2004 got married in the traditional way in 2007 due to lack of finances at the moment of their marriage the young lady was already pregnant with their first son but despite Sanyeri not being famous as at that time, and despite his lack of money the young lady stood by him and married him.
Currently as we speak Sanyeri’s although stays, live and work in Nigeria as an actor and movie producer, his wife and two children are currently living in Canada.
