Mary Lazarus

Last updated
Mary Lazarus
Born
Mary Lazarus

(1989-05-05) 5 May 1989 (age 34)
Nationality Nigerian
Alma mater University of Ibadan
Occupations
  • Actress
  • Movie producer
Years active2002–Present
AwardsCity People Movie Award for Most Promising Actress of the Year (English) at the City People Entertainment Awards in 2018. City People Movie Awards, 2018 City People Movie Awards

Mary Lazarus (born 5 May 1989) [1] is a Nigerian actress [2] and movie producer who won the City People Movie Award for Most Promising Actress of the Year (English) at the City People Entertainment Awards in 2018 [3] and was nominated, for Best Actress in a leading role in the same year at the Best of Nollywood Awards. [4] She also won the award for Most Peaceful Actress of the Year. [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Lazarus hails from Abia State in Nigeria, a southeastern geographical location of Nigeria predominantly occupied by the Igbo people of Nigeria. Lazarus is specifically from Ukwa East Local Government Area of Abia State and was born into a family of nine consisting of a mother, a father and six siblings of which she is a twin and one of the last born children of the family alongside her twin brother named Joseph. [6] Lazarus upon receiving both primary and secondary education and obtaining her First School Leaving Certificate and the West African Senior School Certificate respectively applied to University of Ibadan in bid to obtain a university degree. She was accepted and granted admission to study Geography, in the institution where she eventually graduated with a 4.4 cumulative grade point average with a B.Sc. degree in Geography. [7] [8]

Career

Lazarus who is popularly known, for her roles in diverse Nollywood movies debuted first as a model in 2002 before venturing into the Nigerian movie industry in 2009 with a movie titled “Waiting Years” She secured a role in the movie through the help of Gbenro Ajibade who introduced her to John Njamah, the director of the movie who eventually assigned her a role in the aforementioned movie. [9] Lazarus made her directorial debut with a movie titled “Dance To My Beat” of which she also produced in 2017.

Lazarus as a model has made appearances in commercials by Airtel and MTN. [10] [11]

Influence

Lazarus, in an interview with the Vanguard print media named Nollywood veteran actresses Omotola Jalade Ekeinde and Joke Silva as her role models in the Nigerian movie industry. [12] Lazarus in another interview with The Punch print media named American actress Kimberly Elise as one who she admires because of her extensive body of work. [9]

Award and nomination

YearAward ceremonyPrizeResultRef
2018 City People Movie Awards Most Promising Actress of the Year (English)Won [3]
Best of Nollywood Awards Best Actress in a Lead Role - EnglishNominated [4]
2020 2020 Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards Best Supporting Actress in a Movie or TV Series - Size 12Nominated [13]

Personal life

Lazarus comes from a family of nine and is one of the last born children of her parents alongside her twin brother. In an interview with The Punch print media she described herself as a fun-loving person. [9]

Selected filmography and TV series

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References

  1. "Mary Lazarus 5 Nollywood movies featuring actress". www.pulse.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  2. Aileru, Islamiat (2021-10-13). "Actress Mary Lazarus laments bitterly on the tradition of burying people in Igbo culture". Kemi Filani News. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  3. 1 2 People, City (2018-09-24). "Winners Emerge @ 2018 City People Movie Awards". City People Magazine. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  4. 1 2 "BON Awards 2018: Mercy Aigbe, Tana Adelana shine at 10th edition". Pulse Nigeria. 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  5. "Peace Awards: Mary Lazarus bags Most Peaceful Actress of the Year". Punch Newspapers. 2021-11-15. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  6. "Actress Mary Lazarus And Twin Brother Celebrate Birthday Today (Pictures) – Nairaland". Nigeria News (News Reader). Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  7. "8 Things you should know about the starlet". Pulse Nigeria. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  8. "Many misuse social media –Mary Lazarus". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  9. 1 2 3 "Modelling prevented me from making a first-class degree — Mary Lazarus". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  10. "Mary Lazarus implores government to build cinema houses". Vanguard News. 2018-06-20. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  11. Legit.ng (2012-10-05). ""Every Part Of My Body Is Sexy"- Actress Mary Lazarus". www.legit.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  12. "I don't try to be who I am not - Mary Lazarus". Vanguard News. 2018-02-04. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  13. "AMVCA 2020". Africa Magic - AMVCA 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-10.