Olly Sholotan is one of the freshest, burgeoning faces in Hollywood. Since his appearance in the reboot of Will Smith’s Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as ‘Carlton’, he’s drawn so much attention to himself.
Although he’s been acting all his life, he is finally on the edge of A-list stardom with his role on BelAir. He’s quickly become one of the most popular young black actors in Hollywood alongside his co-star, Jabari Banks.
Bel-Air is currently streaming on Showmax and it’s essential to take a quick look at the Nigerian-American playing one of the most iconic roles in black American history.
Here are 21 interesting facts about Olly Sholotan:
1. Olly Sholatan’s real name is Olamide Sholotan.
2. He was born on April 5, 1998, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Nigerian parents – Mr Bosun Osos and Yemi Sholotan.
3. He has two siblings – one sister, Modasola Sholatan, and a brother, Enioluwa Sholatan.
4. He attended Kinder High School in Texas, where he studied visual arts. He was the 2015 YoungArts finalist in theatre arts there.
5. Sholotan trained at the University of California School of Theater, Film and Television.
6. He made his acting debut in 2017 as ‘Ricky’ in a short film titled Main Street.
7. Apart from acting, Olly is also a musician, songwriter and recording artiste.
8. His songs have been featured in both short and feature-length projects, including Run Hide Fight.
9. In 2018, he appeared in Partying With Communists and played the role of Jeremy.
10. He owns an indie record label called Lamintin Records.
11. Some of his biggest songs include Steal My High, Lie To Me, Enough For Me, Fading, Damn Good, Kill It, Make It Right and more.
12. In 2019, he appeared in All American as ‘Taequan Man’. It was his first television appearance. He closed the year playing ‘Chris’ in a short film titled Shaved.
13. Olly has put out two musical projects – Jive (2018) and Soulful Gazing (2020).
14. In February 2022, he appeared on the cover of Teen Vogue magazine.
15. He plays the guitar and rugby in his spare time.
16. In 2020, he made appearances in Lloyd and Run Hide Fight, playing the roles of ‘Lloyd’ and ‘Lewis Washington’, respectively.
17. Olly Sholotan released his first music video for ‘Enough For Me’ in August 2021 and ‘Lie 2 Me’ earlier this year.
18. He appeared in the recently released feature film, Evolution of Nate Gibson as ‘Benji Betts’.
19. He is an alumnus of Spring Sing Company, the University of California’s oldest musical talent competition dating back 75 years that helped launch the careers of artistes like Maroon 5.
20. He is a huge supporter and part of the black lives matter movement.
21. He loves philanthropy. In 2020, he donated all the profits from his song, Steal My High, to a charity for black women. He announced his decision via Instagram, saying, “All streaming proceeds of ‘Steal My High’ through the end of the year will be donated to @thelovelandfoundation, a non-profit that provides financial support to Black women and girls seeking therapy and mental health support.”
