Deza the Great (Adekanla Desalu): Former Banker Turned Nollywood Actor
Adekanla Aderinola Desalu, who acts as Deza the Great, is a Nigerian actor, producer and former banker who has become one of the most visible faces of YouTube-first Nollywood. After about fifteen years in telecoms and banking he left Sterling Bank in September 2023 to work full-time in film. This profile relies on Wikipedia, Independent, The Guardian Nigeria and 2026 entertainment reports, and it does not repeat unconfirmed claims about his family, religion or finances.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information and source |
|---|---|
| Full name | Adekanla Aderinola Desalu (Wikipedia; Independent) |
| Stage name | Deza the Great |
| Date and place of birth | 7 November 1980, Lagos (Wikipedia; Independent) |
| Education | BSc Actuarial Science, University of Lagos; MBA in Artificial Intelligence, Nexford University (Independent; Wikipedia) |
| Earlier career | Globacom (2005); Equatorial Trust Bank, now Sterling Bank, from 2008 |
| Screen debut | 2010, as Barry in the TV series Catwalq |
| Full-time acting | Left Sterling Bank in September 2023 |
| Credits | More than 150 films and series and seven produced projects, per Independent and Wikipedia |
Early life and education
Independent’s profile says Desalu was born in Lagos on 7 November 1980 and grew up in a family of five boys who liked to act out scenes from movies as children. He studied Actuarial Science at the University of Lagos. Independent also lists an MBA in Artificial Intelligence from Nexford University, an online institution based in Washington, DC, and Wikipedia repeats both qualifications. We were unable to check either against university records, so they are presented as reported.
Banking career
According to the Independent, Desalu began work at Globacom in 2005, rising to Commercial Roaming Manager, and joined Equatorial Trust Bank in 2008. The bank is now part of Sterling Financial Holdings. There he led teams on customer success, process management, strategy, operational excellence, quality assurance, digital transformation and what the profile calls “entertainment business”. Wikipedia describes him as a regional client engagement officer at the bank. Legit.ng gives slightly different early job titles at Globacom. The sources agree on the broad shape of the career: about fifteen years in telecoms and finance before he switched.
Move into acting
Desalu’s screen debut, as Barry in Catwalq, dates to 2010, according to both Independent and Wikipedia. For more than a decade he combined acting with a banking job. Independent credits his early inspiration to Denzel Washington, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and says some of his work was nominated at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, although it does not name the nominations, so we cannot confirm which.
His public profile rose sharply after 2021. A Guardian Nigeria feature from November 2024 places him among new stars shaped by YouTube. It notes that after the Covid-19 lockdown actors began uploading films to their own channels, that he became more prominent in the previous two years in films on Ruth Kadiri’s channel, and that he had begun uploading on his own channel. Its writer singles out the 2022 film The Manager, in which he plays a spendthrift husband, and Beyond Perfection. The Guardian says he had more than twenty movies to his credit in 2024.
In September 2023 he left Sterling Bank to focus on filmmaking, and Wikipedia and Independent both date the full-time move to that year. Wikipedia lists among his works Big Love (2023), Hell & Fury (2024), Two Captains, Unusual Arrangements (2023), Wrong Choice (2023), Love in Lagos (2023), Cloud 9 (2023) and Role Play (2022), noting that the list is incomplete.
Why YouTube matters to his career
The Guardian’s feature explains the shift. Idumota movie marketers controlled Nollywood distribution from the 1990s until the late 2010s and decided who became a star. YouTube changed that, it argues: a minimum of 50 new movies are uploaded to the platform every day, and actors now run their own channels. Deza the Great is described as one of the newer actors produced by that system. That context helps explain why a former banker could build a large audience quickly. It also means that his popularity is measured in views on channels such as DezaTheGreatTV, a metric that moves daily and is not audited.
Recent work in 2026
Entertainment sites have covered his 2026 releases. Nollywood Times reviewed You Drove Me Crazy, which premiered on his channel on 7 January 2026 and runs about two hours and twenty-eight minutes. He plays a broke taxi driver, Clement, opposite Etinosa Idemudia as a wealthy boss, Olivia, in a comedy that begins with a traffic collision in Lagos. The review is opinionated and written by the site’s critic, so it tells us about the film rather than about him. A separate review site covered Oga Bulldozer, a 2026 Nollywood release. His channel’s listings for August 2026 include Chisom and the Law and Sade Eleja, according to a film-tracking service. We have not verified these listings against the channel itself.
A public warning about a scam
In September 2026 Green White Green reported that Desalu said in an Instagram video that he lost $2,500 after clicking a link in a text message posing as a fine from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). He said the message claimed he had exceeded a speed limit, that he entered his card details, and that he blocked his cards and called his bank when he found the money gone. He called on the FRSC, LASTMA and the Lagos State Government to explain how drivers can tell genuine fines from fake ones. Commenters quoted in the report noted that FRSC has said such messages do not come from it. The case is his own account; no investigation outcome was reported.
Other business interests
Independent describes him as a financial advisor and business coach who works with small and medium-sized businesses and says he is interested in youth empowerment. Legit.ng calls him a business advisor and television host. Neither outlet names a registered company or gives figures, so these claims are descriptive only.
Family and private life
Desalu keeps his family out of the spotlight. Some websites publish a wife’s details, children’s names and birth dates, and an explanation of a tattoo. We did not find any of these confirmed in interviews or by established outlets, and we deliberately omit them, especially anything about children. Earlier versions of online biographies that promised “wife, kids and tattoo meaning” were mostly built from social media guesses.
What we could not verify
- His degrees and the years he earned them; only Independent, Wikipedia and Legit.ng give them, and Wikipedia cites Independent.
- Which of his films were nominated at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards.
- The “more than 150 films” total, which comes from a 2022 profile and has not been audited; Wikipedia’s filmography is flagged incomplete.
- His marriage, spouse and children, which are not confirmed by a reliable source.
- His religion, his tribe and a “tattoo meaning”.
- Net worth: Legit.ng quotes an unnamed online estimate; we do not publish it.
- The current contents of his YouTube channel and any view counts.
Sources
- Wikipedia
- Independent
- The Guardian Nigeria
- Legit.ng
- Nollywood Times
- Green White Green
Last reviewed October 2026. See our corrections policy to report an error.
