Genevieve Nnaji is a Nigerian actress, producer, and director. She won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 2005, making her the first actor to win the award. In 2011, she was honoured as a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic by the Nigerian government for her contributions to Nollywood. Her directorial debut movie, Lionheart, is the first Netflix film from Nigeria and the first Nigerian submission for the Oscars. The movie was disqualified for having most of its dialogue in English. After having spent decades in the movie industry, she was profiled alongside some celebrities and business executives in 2020 in two new books by publisher and Editor in Chief of Yes International! magazine, Azuh Arinze.
Anayo Modestus Onyekwere popularly known as Kanayo O. Kanayo is a Nigerian actor and lawyer. In 2006, he won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in the movie Family Battle.
Stephanie Okereke Linus is a Nigerian actress, film director and model. She has received several awards and nominations for her work as an actress, including the 2003 Reel Award for Best Actress, the 2006 Afro Hollywood Award for Best Actress, and three nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2005, 2009 and 2010. She was also the runner up for the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria beauty pageant of 2002. In 2011, she was honoured by the Nigerian government with a national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, MFR.
The Africa Movie Academy Awards, popularly known as AMAA and The AMA Awards, is presented annually to recognize excellence among professionals working in, or non-African professionals who have contributed to, the African film industry. It was founded by Peace Anyiam-Osigwe and is run through the Africa Film Academy. The awards are aimed at honouring and promoting excellence in the African movie industry as well as uniting the African continent through arts and culture. The award presentation is attended by numerous media representatives, celebrities, politicians, journalists, actresses and actors from all across the world. The AMA Awards is widely considered to be Africa's most important film event and the most prestigious film award in Africa. A variety of international observers have fondly called the African Movie Academy Awards the "African Oscars".
The 1st Africa Movie Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 30, 2005 at the Gloryland Cultural Center in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria, to honor the best African films of 2004. The ceremony was broadcast live on Nigerian national television. Nollywood actress Stella Damasus-Aboderin and Nollywood actor Segun Arinze hosted the ceremony.
Kenneth Gyang is a young filmmaker in Nigeria and was born in Barkin Ladi of Plateau State, Nigeria. He studied Film Production at the National Film Institute in Jos and screenwriting at Gaston Kaboré's IMAGINE in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Two of his short films as well as a script titled "Game of Life" were selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus 2006 and "Mummy Lagos" was well received as an official competition entry. "Mummy Lagos" was also selected for the Sithengi Talent Campus as part of the Cape Town World Cinema Festival in South Africa.
Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs,, known professionally as Olu Jacobs, is a Nigerian actor and film executive. He has starred in several British television series and international films. Olu Jacobs has been hailed by many as one of the greatest and most widely respected African actors of his generation. Together with Pete Edochie, he is considered by several media, film commentators, critics, and other actors to be one of the most influential African actors of all time, and is widely regarded as a cultural icon. He is seen as the bridge between the old Actors and the new ones.
Joke SilvaMFR is a Nigerian actress, director, and businesswoman.
Okechukwu Ukeje, known as OC Ukeje is Nigerian actor,model and musician. He came into prominence after winning the Amstel Malta Box Office (AMBO) reality show. He has received several awards including Africa Movie Academy Awards, Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards, Nollywood Movies Awards, Best of Nollywood Awards, Nigeria Entertainment Awards and Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards. He has featured in several award-winning films including Two Brides and a Baby, Hoodrush, Alan Poza, Confusion Na Wa and Half of a Yellow Sun.
Last Flight to Abuja is a 2012 Nigerian disaster thriller film written by Tunde Babalola, directed and produced by Obi Emelonye, and starring Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Hakeem Kae-Kazim and Jim Iyke. Shot in Lagos, the film received 5 nominations at the 2013 Africa Movie Academy Awards, winning the category "Best film by an African based abroad". On 15 June 2020, 'Last Flight To Abuja' began streaming on Netflix eight years after it first premiered in London.
Michelle Bello is a British Nigerian film director and film producer. She is also CEO of a Nigerian-based entertainment and publishing company, Blu Star Entertainment Limited. Bello was born in London, England.
Mildred Okwo is a Nigerian film director and producer. She was nominated for Best Director award at the 4th Africa Movie Academy Awards. In 2012 she directed the romance comedy-drama film The Meeting which won several awards including Nigeria Entertainment Awards, Africa Movie Academy Awards and Nollywood Movies Awards.
Daniel Kanayo Daniel is a Nigerian television and film actor, model, voice-over artiste and events compere. He is best known for his portrayal of Bossman in the movie A Soldier's Story, for which he won the 2016 Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards (AMVCA) and the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) awards for Best Actor, as well as his roles in the period piece 76, which also starred Ramsey Nouah, Chidi Mokeme and Rita Dominic and the light-hearted Mummy Dearest alongside veteran Nigerian actress Liz Benson. He was one of two Nollywood actors inducted into the Academy of Motion Pictures and Science class of 2022.
O-Town is a Nigerian crime gangster film written and directed by C.J. Obasi. The film stars Paul Utomi as Peace, a hustler at the center of various issues in the small town of Owerri, also known as O-Town. The film's music was composed by Beatoven and Wache Pollen and filming took place in Owerri.
Chetanna is a 2014 drama film directed by Ikechukwu Onyeka and produced by Chigozie Atuanya.
Hilda Dokubo is a Nigerian award-winning film actress, author, social justice advocate, and politician who once served as special adviser on youth affairs to Peter Odili, a former governor of Rivers State. She is the Chairman of Labour Party in Rivers State.
Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama is a Nigerian TV and film actress and model. She is well known for her roles in 93 Days (2016), The Wedding Party, The Arbitration (2016), and the TV series Gidi Up (2013–2014) and at the Toronto International Film Festival and Africa International Film Festival. She is an ambassador for Multichoice's DSTV Explora, the widest satellite cable network across Africa. She has in the movie, A Soldier's Story 2: Return from the Dead - sequel to a 2016 multiple award-winning romantdramasama.
Wale Ojo is a British Nigerian actor. He started as a child actor in television. He subsequently continued acting roles in the UK and Nigeria. He came into prominence in 1995 for his role in The Hard Case. He won the award for Best Actor at the 2012 Nigeria Entertainment Awards for this leading role in Phone Swap, and has been featuring in several movies ever since.
Jemima Osunde is a Nigerian actress, model, and presenter. She gained exposure after playing Leila in the television series Shuga. Osunde was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 15th Africa Movie Academy Awards for her performance in The Delivery Boy (2018).
