That instinct now shows up everywhere from his sax solos to his slow-burn monologues on screen. Bold & Beautiful shows beauty, intelligence, lifestyles, successes, achievements, and remarkable feats that characterize Nigerians and Africans. Ayo hasn’t parked his ambition at acting. He’s developing a short film, Island, and aiming to direct and write his own stories.
Ayo Solanke: The Teen Drama Disruptor Who Redefined Chaos in Netflix’s ‘Bet’
Comic book adaptations into live-action television are always tricky, but manga adaptations — especially ones done outside of South Asia — are even trickier. The characters in manga stories are designed to be over-the-top and at times are more known for their quirkiness than any kind of depth of character. How to translate that into a live-action series that doesn’t feel cartoonish is tough.
A good example is Bet, an adaptation of a manga about a high schooler who is a compulsive gambler going to a prep school full of people wagering their parents’ money. After staking his claim as one of the few fresh faces to make a teen drama feel dangerous again, he’s shifting gears. What’s next isn’t just a continuation—it’s escalation.
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From an upcoming role in an A24 psychological thriller to the high-stakes return of Bet, Ayo Solanke’s future projects don’t follow a straight trajectory. They zigzag between prestige and pop, art-house and streaming spectacle. This chapter looks ahead, not with PR spin, but with a critical eye on what these choices say about where he’s headed—and who he refuses to become.
Netflix
Yumeko immediately challenges Mary to a match; the game chosen is “Skirmish,” where each player plays one of their seven cards, and the high card in that round wins. Yumeko notices that Mary is cheating, and only wants to play fair. But, as we see in flashbacks to her childhood in Japan, winning money isn’t the only reason why she’s at St. Dominic’s; she wants revenge. Ayo Solanke stops by to chat about his breakout role as Ryan in the hit Netflix series BET. Ayo shares how his life has changed since the show hit the global Top 10, what it was like stepping into a complex character, and how fans have connected with Ryan’s emotional journey. Ten episodes seems like a lot, arguably too many, but they’re all under 40 minutes and breeze by with so much going on, especially since the outcome of the games keeps upending the social dynamics and raising the stakes.
- Clara Alexandrova stars as the fierce student council president, Kira Timurov.
- While undeniably successful in attracting attention, the adaptation has received criticism from purists in the manga audience.
- Instead, Ayo Solanke’s upcoming movies are deliberately varied.
- Now pivot to Tales from the Hood 3, which lands somewhere between anthology experimentation and straight-up genre pastiche.
- Yumeko immediately challenges Mary to a match; the game chosen is “Skirmish,” where each player plays one of their seven cards, and the high card in that round wins.
- What else has Ryan Sutherland been in?
- You feel the tension—not the romantic kind, thankfully, but the kind where two people recognize each other’s damage and make a silent pact not to flinch.
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Now pivot to Tales from the Hood 3, which lands somewhere between anthology experimentation and straight-up genre pastiche. Solanke leans into the unsettling tone here, not with overacting but with a kind of quiet dread. Ayo Solanke’s horror movie roles are rarely written to win awards, but he uses that freedom to inject a kind of specificity that’s usually lost in scream-heavy screen time. It’s not the gore that makes them effective—it’s his unwillingness to act like he’s in a horror movie at all.
Ayo Solanke as Ryan
Everything evolves fairly naturally, and by the time the finale rolls around, you’re more invested in the interpersonal relationships than the gimmicks, which feels just about right. The premise revolves around Yumeko Jabami (Miku Martineau, Kate), an enigmatic transfer student who arrives at St. Dominic’s Prep with a mind to take down its dominant and corrupt Student Council as revenge for her parents’ murder. St. Dominic’s is one of those weird made-for-TV schools where nobody seems to do any work, there are no teachers in sight, and the whole place is divided into themed cliques with eccentric gimmicks. The costuming and social structure are a little reminiscent of Elite, but that’s as far as the comparison goes. In Canada, Ayo Solanke’s education took a sharper turn. He enrolled in youth acting intensives—not the kind where everyone hugs it out, but the kind where you’re told your cold-read was “technically fine” and “emotionally vacant.” It was brutal.
An Excellent Acting Line-up for the Characters
Ayo believes BET is more than a stylish teen thriller — it’s a reflection of deeper truths. Solanke points to the final episodes, especially the scenes where Ryan defends Yumiko or squares off with Hunter Cardinal’s character Michael, as some of his favorite to shoot. Anwen O’Driscoll is the Canadian actress who plays Riri on Bet. Edwards is a 24-year-old actress from Canada. Bet is Netflix’s latest live-action based on the manga Kakegurui.
For those not in the know, Kakegurui (賭ケグルイ, Kakegurui –Compulsive Gambler–) is a Japanese manga series that began its run in Square Enix’s Gangan Joker magazine in March 2014. It was later adapted in 2017 by the legendary studio MAPPA with a follow-up series arriving two years later. Both those seasons are streaming exclusively on Netflix as of right now. This actually marks the second time the material has been adapted into a live-action series, with a Japanese series (also streaming on Netflix) released in 2019, starring Minami Hamabe, Mahiro Takasugi, and Aoi Morikawa. There are actors who say they’re “into music” and mean they have a Spotify playlist with a dramatic title. Has performed live, unrehearsed, and off-book.
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Critics and fans alike praise this emotional arc—a rare blend of vulnerability and resolve. On Wednesday, March 12, the Emmy-winning actress posted an Instagram Story recalling a time when she was ‘cast’ in a fake “Pirates of the Caribbean” reboot on social media, which prompted a negative response from the Tesla CEO. “Disney sucks,” commented on X with a repost of the false story. From creator Simon Barry, the teen drama focuses on St. Dominic’s, an elite private school where underground gambling rules the social scene. While undeniably successful in attracting attention, the adaptation has received criticism from purists in the manga audience. Some feel that by diverting from the source material, especially with character building and cultural nuances, the adaptation has never stood the rightful claim of being a legitimate one.
Born in Nigeria and raised in East London, the 22-year-old British-Nigerian actor now carries the weight of two cultures with ease and uses them as strengths m.youtube.com+9youtube.com+9aestetica.net+9. At USTA Advocates, we are proud to combine experience, expertise, and resources to achieve exceptional results for our clients. With a proven track record as a trusted advisor, we have played a pivotal role in groundbreaking transactions and resolved complex legal questions, shaping Uganda’s legal landscape.
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Plenty of actors turn to directing for control. The film isn’t autobiographical, but it’s clearly personal—especially in how it toys with themes of isolation, duality, and the cyclical nature of choice. As a director and writer, he isn’t flexing genre tricks.
The Top Law Students
The show offers a live-action look at the Japanese manga Kakegurui, which exposes a world of high-stakes gambling and power dynamics. Let’s have a look at what this live adaptation brings to the table and how well it has adapted elements from the original manga. Gambling is a way of life at St. Dominic’s, and the Student Council are ayobet.id the top winners at the school, led by council president Kira (Clara Alexandrova). They make the rules of the games played.
And he does it without sounding defensive or rehearsed. Which, in a digital landscape of overly managed personas, makes him far more watchable off-screen than most of his peers onscreen. He’s been open about how those early ensemble shows—where mics cut out and spotlights misfire—taught him how to listen for timing. Not just musical timing, but emotional timing.
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The Canada chapter didn’t launch Solanke. There’s no mythology to mine here—just a kid who moved countries, swapped accents, absorbed cultures, and didn’t flinch. There’s something quietly radical about that. Just sharp, self-aware evolution—scene by scene.
- Solanke, 22, is a Nigerian-born British musician and actor.
- While the series itself splits audiences faster than a bluff gone wrong, Solanke’s character, Ryan Adebayo, is a wildcard worth watching.
- And yet, Solanke gives him spine, nuance, and just enough moral discomfort to keep things interesting.
- Plenty of actors turn to directing for control.
- And, hopefully, more scenes where Ryan doesn’t just react but reshapes the game.
At the heart of the story lies Yumeko Jabami, a compulsive gambler who dismantles the social order of Hyakkaou Private Academy, a school where students remain ranked according to their gambling prowess. The manga is famous worldwide due to its intense characters and unpredictable plot twists, thus being ripe for live-action adaptation. Post-Bet, Solanke could’ve easily surfed the Netflix wave into another teen thriller or franchise cash-in. Instead, Ayo Solanke’s upcoming movies are deliberately varied.
The switch from stage to screen didn’t feel like an upgrade—it felt like being thrown into a new sport with different rules. Subtlety wasn’t a footnote—it was the whole page. There’s a danger in treating manga tropes with reverence—they become parodies without punch. Solanke sidesteps that trap by playing Ryan with dissonance.
- Like many of his castmates, his audition script used a placeholder name — “Harry” instead of Ryan — to conceal the true identity of the project.
- He’s been open about how those early ensemble shows—where mics cut out and spotlights misfire—taught him how to listen for timing.
- Instead, he picked roles that could’ve easily sunk under cliché—and decided to mess with them from the inside.
- Elon Musk stirred up an intense social media reaction towards Ayo Edebiri, which nearly endangered the actress.
- I recently caught up with Ayo for Pop Culture Unplugged, where we talked about the show’s global success, stepping into a beloved fandom, and why Ryan’s evolution is resonating with viewers around the world.
- The show offers a live-action look at the Japanese manga Kakegurui, which exposes a world of high-stakes gambling and power dynamics.
- Ayo Solanke stops by to chat about his breakout role as Ryan in the hit Netflix series BET.
The indie studio has a reputation for picking actors who don’t need to shout to be heard. And Ayo Solanke’s role in A24’s Altar seems positioned to pivot him from emerging talent to serious contender—without the usual award-season desperation. Unlike the curated grids of celebrities holding lattes or fake-laughing with influencers, Ayo Solanke’s Instagram feels like it was built by a human with taste and a sense of humor. Scroll far enough and you’ll find saxophone clips recorded in grainy rehearsal rooms, obscure film recommendations, and behind-the-scenes shots that aren’t drenched in filters. He posts like someone who doesn’t need validation, which—ironically—makes him more worth following.
If you’re looking for something to confirm or deny how much Simon Barry’s ten-part series adheres to the source material or butchers it beyond all repair, sorry – you’re not going to find it here. It’s easy to categorize actors-turned-directors as restless or ambitious. In Solanke’s case, it reads more like necessity.
And yet, Solanke gives him spine, nuance, and just enough moral discomfort to keep things interesting. Ayo says he’s heard from viewers who felt Ryan brought a more emotional and meaningful presence to the world of BET than they had seen in the source material. Laura Afelskie is a Canadian actress who plays Runa in the live-action manga adaptation. No, what annoys us about Bet is that it’s so busy being stylish that it forgets about the fact that there is a story that needs to be told.
Ryan begins the series as a believer in the school’s ruthless hierarchy, but that loyalty fades fast — especially when he finds himself aligning with Yumiko. While Ryan is inspired by Ryota Suzui from the Kakegurui manga, Ayo made a conscious effort to build a version of the character that stood on its own. Interestingly, Ayo didn’t even know what he was auditioning for at first. Like many of his castmates, his audition script used a placeholder name — “Harry” instead of Ryan — to conceal the true identity of the project.
