Nigerians are showcasing their God givn skills and talent all over the world. America’s
entertainment industry, Hollywood, has many black celebrities of African
descent, specifically Nigerians.
Here is a
list of Nigerians who were either born in Nigeria and grew up overseas, or were
born and raised outside the country, or they have one or both parents as
Nigerians.
Cynthia Erivo
A British-Nigerian actress,
singer and song writer, who played the lead role in the biopic Harriet and was
nominated for several awards. Her full name is : Cynthia Onyedinmanasu
Chinasaokwu Erivo. She was born in Stockwell England on 8 January, 1987.
She attended La Retraite
Roman Catholic Girls’ School. Erivo began a music psychology degree at the
University of East London; however, a year into her degree, she was admitted
into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where her multi-talents blossomed.
She is known for her
performance as Celie in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple, for which she
won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for
Outstanding Actress in a Musical, the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater
Album, and the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a
Daytime Program, the latter two she shared with the rest of the cast.
Erivo ventured into films
in 2018, with roles in the heist film Widows and the thriller Bad Times at the
El Royale. In 2019, she portrayed abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the biopic
Harriet, for which she earned a nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden
Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
David Oyelowo:
Born April 1, 1976 to
Nigerian parents in England, David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo OBE is an English actor
and producer. His father is from Oyo State, Western Nigeria while his mother is
from Edo State.
He grew up in Tooting south
London, until he was six, when his family moved to Lagos. The family moved back
when he was 14. He had a three year training at the London Academy of Music and
Dramatic Art (LAMDA), finishing his three-year training in 1998
His highest-profile role to
date was as Martin Luther King Jr. in the 2014 biographical drama film Selma.
He also took the lead role in A United Kingdom as well as playing the role of a
chess coach in Queen of Katwe.
He has played supporting
roles in the films Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Lincoln (2012), Jack
Reacher (2012), and garnered praise for portraying Louis Gaines in The Butler
(2013).
He is slated to star with
Lupita Nyong’o in a film adaptation of the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie novel
Americanah. The story follows a pair of young Nigerian immigrants who face a
lifetime of struggle while their relationship endures.
John Boyega
John Adedayo B. Adegboyega,
was born on 17 March 1992 in Peckham England, to Nigerian parents. He is known
professionally as John Boyega. He has played Finn in the Star Wars sequel
trilogy films, The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of
Skywalker.
Boyega’s other credits
include historical drama film Detroit (2017), the science fiction film Pacific
Rim: Uprising (2018), four episodes of the television series 24: Live Another
Day and the drama Imperial Dreams (2014). Boyega received the BAFTA Rising Star
Award in 2016.
Yvonne Orji
Yvonne Orji is a Nigerian
American actress. She is known for her role in the HBO series Insecure. She was
born to her Nigerian parents in Port Harcourt, Nigeria but was raised in
Maryland, USA. Yvonne has starred in several films like Insecure, Jane The
Virgin, Flip the script, etc.
Uzoamaka Nwanneka “Uzo”
Aduba is an American actress. She was born on February 10, 1981, to Nigerian
parents in Boston, USA. Uzo is known for her role as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes”
Warren on the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black, for which she
won an Emmy Award.
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor is
a British-Nigerian actor. He was born and raised in the United Kingdom by his
Nigerian parents. He is a descendant of the Igbo tribe in Nigeria. After
enrolling at the National Youth Theatre in 1995 and attending the London
Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, at age 19 and three months into his course,
Ejiofor was cast by Steven Spielberg to play a supporting role in the film
Amistad as James Covey. Ejiofor has starred in numerous movies such as 12 years
a slave, The Lion King, Half of a Yellow Sun, Deadly travel and so on.
Carmen Ejogo
Carmen Elizabeth Ejogo is a
British television and film actress and singer. She was born on October 22,
1973, to a Scottish mother, Elizabeth (née Douglas), and a Nigerian father,
Charles Ejogo. She began her career as a teenager hosting the Saturday Disney
morning show from 1993 to 1995. Her film credits include Love’s Labour’s Lost
(2000), What’s the Worst That Could Happen? (2001), Away We Go (2009).
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is
a British actor, director, and former fashion model. He was born by Nigerian
parents in Washington D.C. When he was six weeks old, his biological parents
gave him up to a white working-class family in Tilbury, Essex. This was a
common practice in this era among Nigerian families when parents sent young children
to live in the UK with white foster parents in the hopes their children would
have better lives. Adewale has featured in blockbuster movies like The Bourne
Identity, Pompeii, The Mummy returns, etc. He is fluent in Yoruba, Italian,
Swahili, and Engish.
Hakeem Kae-Kazim
Hakeem Kae-Kazim is a
British-Nigerian actor best known for his work in the Starz television series
Black Sails and his portrayal of Georges Rutaganda in the 2004 drama film Hotel
Rwanda. He was born in Lagos, Nigeria but originally from Ogun State. He has
also featured in Nigerian movies like Last flight to Abuja, Black November.
Currently, he is one of the brand ambassadors of Etisalat.
Adetomiwa Edun
Babatunde Adetomiwa
Stafford “Tomiwa” Edun, is a Nigerian-born British actor. He is best known for
his roles as Sir Elyan in the television show Merlin, Marcus Young in Bates
Motel and Alex Hunter in the football video games FIFA 17, FIFA 18 and FIFA 19.
Gbenga Akinnagbe:
Akinnage was born in
Washington, D.C.to Yoruba parents in 1978. He attended Colonel Zadok A.
Magruder High School in Rockville, Maryland. He attended Bucknell University on
a wrestling scholarship, and graduated in 2000 with a degree in Political
Science and English.
As an American actor and
writer, he best known for his roles as Chris Partlow on the HBO series The Wire
and as Larry Brown on the HBO series The Deuce.
*This story was heavily
revised and is different from the original version. We owe a lot of gratitude
to Wikipedia for background info on the actors/actresses.
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