Who is the first actress in Nigeria?

Nollywood Industry

Nollywood is a term that represents the Nigerian film industry just the way Hollywood represents the American film industry.

The history of Nollywood could be traced back to an article that was published in the New York times in the early 2000s. The article was written by Matt Steinglass who is the term to describe Nigerian cinema.

History of Nollywood

However, there is no generally agreed definition for the term- Nollywood. Though Alex Eyengho defined it as the totality of events taking place in the Nigerian film industry using any of the languages like English, Igbo, Edo, Hausa, Yoruba, and any of the over 300 languages in Nigeria.

The history of Nollywood started during the pre and post-independence era in Nigeria through the efforts of pioneers like Chief Hubert Ogunde, Chief Amata, Ade Love, Baba Sala, Eddie Ugbomah, and others.

Nollywood can also be used to define some Ghanaian movies that are produced by Nigerian companies or for Nigerian audiences.

However, some critics have disagreed that Nollywood is perfect for the Nigerian film industry due to the fact that it is the product of imperialism which means that it is the name coined by a foreigner just to make it suit their taste.

While some Nigerians compare Nollywood to American Hollywood there are some factors to consider.

Hollywood movies have a high budget that is in millions of dollars and take a whole lot of time for a movie to be shot with large Crews and movie equipment wild Nigerian movies take at least a week to a month for a movie to be produced using a budget of $15000 dollars which is very poor.

Nollywood is a very big movie industry which is said to be the second largest in the whole world After India’s Bollywood this is because in terms of film output Nigerian rate of movie production is very high as it produces over 2500 movies yearly.

It was in the 1960s that production of movies in Nollywood began and the filmmakers then are known to be the first generation of filmmakers in Nigeria.

According to research the father, founder, and pioneer of Nollywood in Nigeria is Hubert Ogunde.

Nollywood industry is divided originally just like the country’s politics is divided into the east the West and the North.

The eastern Nollywood is known as Asaba movies due to the high rate of movies produced in the area and quite a lot of them are in the Igbo language.

Though this part of Nollywood has produced a lot of actors and actresses who are very popular in the movie industry, in recent times it is shame to being underrated by the newly rising cinema Nigerian movie.

The West has its own Nollywood specialty with a lot of prominent Yoruba actors. it has also produced a lot of blockbuster movies since 1960.

Northern Nigeria has its own movie industry known as Kannywood. Over there they have there movie stars and celebrities with popular movies too.

First Nollywood Actress

There are many unknown actresses that have acted in Nigerian films before 1960 after Nigeria’s Independence day notable actress has been at the forefront of the Nigerian movie industry is Genevieve Nnaji.

Brief biography of Genevieve Nnaji

Genevieve is a Nigerian actress director and producer who was born on 3rd May 1979.
She became the first Nigerian actress who won the best actress in a leading role at the African movie academy awards in 2005.

She got the owner to have a member of the order of federal republic of Nigeria in 2011 the Nigerian government does to her contributions and the Nigerian film industry.

Genevieve Nnaji has always been a record-breaker as her first directorial movie – Lionheart made history as Nigeria’s first Netflix original.not just that the movie also got submitted for Oscars award do it was disqualified for its use of English instead of the native language.

Genevieve Nnaji is from Mbaise in Imo State but she was raised in Lagos. She wasgiven birth to in a middle-class family of eight children and her father was an engineer while her mother was the nursery school teacher.

After a primary school location, she attended methodist girls secondary school in Yaba Lagos before she moved on to the University of Lagos where she earned a degree in creative arts. This is why she was a student at the university that she started going for Nollywood auditions.

Aside Genevieve’s movie career she has also been booked for several commercials four major brands like pronto (a beverage company), Omo detergent, and others.

She was made ‘Face of Lux’ in Nigeria and the deal was very lucrative. She also launched her clothing line in 2008 and named it St. Genevieve declaring that proceeds from the business will go to charity. She was made the official ‘Face of Mud’ in Nigeria by May of 2010.

Here are some of the movies Nigeria’s first movie actress has to her portifolio:

Year	Film
1987	Ripples
1998	Most Wanted
1999	Camouflage
2001	Love Boat
	Death Warrant
2002	Valentino
	Fire Dancer
	Sharon Stone
	Runs!
	Power of Love
	Formidable Force
	Battle Line
2003	Above Death: In God We Trust
	Blood Sister
	Break Up
	Butterfly
	By His Grace
	Church Business
	Deadly Mistake
	Emergency Wedding
	Emotional Tears
	For Better for Worse
	Honey
	Jealous Lovers
	Keeping Faith: Is That Love?
	Last Weekend
	Late Marriage
	Love
	My Only Love
	Not Man Enough
	Passion & Pain
	Passions
	Player: Mr. Lover Man
	Private Sin
	Sharon Stone in Abuja
	Super Love
	The Chosen One
	Women Affair
2004	Bumper to Bumper
	Critical Decision
	Dangerous Sister
	Goodbye New York
	He Lives in Me
	Into Temptation
	My First Love
	Never Die for Love
	Promise Me Forever
	Stand by Me
	Treasure
	Unbreakable
	We Are One
2005	Darkest Night
	Games Women Play
	Rip-Off
2006	Girls Cot
	30 Days
2007	Letters to a Stranger
	Keep My Will
	Warrior’s Heart
	Unfinished Business
	Winds of Glory
2008	Beautiful Soul
	Heart of Africa
	Broken Tears
	Critical Condition
	River of Tears
	My Idol
	Love My Way
2009	Silent Scandals
	Felicima
2010	Ijé: The Journey
	Tango with me
	Bursting Out
	Mirror Boy
2011	Sacred Lies
2012	Weekend Getaway
2013	Half of a Yellow Sun
	Doctor Bello
2014	The Truth with Olisa
2015	Road to Yesterday
2018	Lionheart
	Farming