Olaniyi Afonja

Olaniyi Afonja is a Yoruba actor from Oyo state and he is popularly known as Sanyeri. His father is an artisan while his mother is a trader. He had his primary education at St. Michael Primary School, Oke-Ibo, Oyo Town, Oyo State, and later attended Durbar Grammar School, Oyo Town, Oyo State.
He started his acting career sometime in 1991/92 but his parents didn't approve of him being an actor. They enrolled him as an apprentice-tailor, but he usually ran away from training to rehearse with members of the drama group because he didn't believe that there was any future for him as an artisan.
His mother once humiliated him during a stage performance when she tied him with a rope before taking him away. She did that because she did not want him to take to acting as a career. But thank God today; he has a good story to tell today. Even his mother has suddenly become popular in Oyo because of his fame as a comedian. She is now called 'Iya Opakan'; even family members who detested his being an actor are now associating with him.
He has acted in many Yoruba movies and is happily married.