In a new interview, Top Boy star Araloyin Oshunremi has discussed his journey on the show from when it was rebooted in 2019 and he was just a child. He’s said he now gets “deep, deep DMs from fans”.
“The first day of set, I looked around me and I realised everyone I was with in the first two seasons, I’m not with no more,” the 19-year-old actor explained to the Evening Standard in a new interview about the latest fifth and final season. “So it [was] like, sad, sitting by myself in the trailer… but it helped my character. My character is physically by himself this season as well.”
In the show, Oshunremi plays Stefan Tovell. The younger brother of would-be kingpin Jamie, Stefan sees friends and family die because of the gang violence. The actor said: “The first season to now, we see Stef become a man. We see him mature quite a lot and have to make decisions, but have to actually think about the decisions before he makes [them].”
In the show’s fifth season, Stefan grapples with the loss of Jamie, who was shot in the fourth. This tragedy underscores his arc in the final chapter, with Oshunremi having to learn to handle a gun properly for this last instalment: “You have to actually learn how to hold it in a natural way.”
The actor was raised in London, grew up in Hackney, and originally dreamed of being a footballer. Oshunremi was leaving a barber’s shop in his locale when he was handed a flyer for an open-call casting for the show that Netflix was reviving after Channel 4 cancelled it. He decided to try it after school and got in.
Ironically, because of his age, he wasn’t allowed to watch Top Boy at the time of the audition. “My brothers and my sister kind of infilled me [on the plot]”, he said.
Things have changed today. His inbox is now flooded with messages from fans. Oshunremi revealed: “Like deep, deep DMs… some of the messages I get sometimes, I actually cry, because I’m glad I’ve had an impact on someone’s life in a positive way.”
