Taslim Olaniyan Atanda Olatunde; Actor in the Yoruba genre of nollyowod. Olaniyan was born on March 3 1939 at Ibadan (Oyo) into an average family. He began acting from school after having seen elder brother, Kola who had gone into acting in 1962. He went to the University of Ibadan where he obtained a Diploma in Theatre Arts in 1966.
Soon after finishing, Olaniyan went into production full time, not limiting himself to acting alone but also learning how to produce, direct and do continuity. The movie that launched him was Obirin Asiko, a production that also gave Toyin Afolayan (Lola) her name. He had also acted or taken part as crew in Wicked boy, Sidi London, Oriyomi, Ododo Eye among others. His first production was Lati Orun Wa (Right from heaven) after which he produced Omo Oba (De Prince). Before his death in 1995 he was working on two movies – Olorun Wa (God dey) and Playboy.
Olaniyan was an active member of the Committee that organised the first Oyo State Theatre Festival which held between November 5 and 12, 1995 and was instrumental to the attendance at the Awards night by notable Lagos based artistes.