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Screen Celebrities Who Will Sizzle In 2016

By Shaibu Husseini
16 January 2016   |   2:46 am
The year has barely zoomed off and some screen celebrities have already started hugging movie sets. Some had a good run last year and it is expected that they will also have their hands filled this year. Here are a few of the screen celebrities that were nominated out of a pool of 50, as…

nse-ikpe-etim

The year has barely zoomed off and some screen celebrities have already started hugging movie sets. Some had a good run last year and it is expected that they will also have their hands filled this year. Here are a few of the screen celebrities that were nominated out of a pool of 50, as players to watch in 2016. However, the list is not in any way exhaustive.

Majid Michel
Popular actor Majid Michel had a good year last year. Observers say the actor who is popular as ‘Shaker’ was able to retain his status as one of the leading actors of the Nigerian and Ghana movie industries in 2014. Majid was everywhere a leading actor was required. Observers expect nothing but a superlative performance this year from the busy actor who lit up a couple of 2015 productions including ‘The Department’ and ‘Busted Life’.

Nse Ikpe Etim
Notable and award-winning actress Nse Ikpe Etim had a busy and fantastic year in 2015. She was in virtually every box office hit that was released in 2015. She started the year with superb performances in movies like ‘The Green Eyed’, ‘The Visit’ and closed it with a beatific performance in Mo Abudu’s ‘Fifty’ as directed by Biyo Bandele. Nse hinted that she has her hands filled this year and was already scheduled to begin work on a big budget production set in Europe.

OC Ukeje
The award-winning actor OC Ukeje is in Ghana for the Sparrow Entertainment Festival. OC travelled in company of fellow actors Joseph Benjamin and Blossom Chukwujekwu to be part of the maiden edition of the Sparrow Entertainment Festival, a platform that the award-winning Ghanaian director Shirley Frimpong Manso has created to showcase works from her stable, Sparrow Productions. Sparrow Productions is the name behind some of the sector’s successful productions like A Sting in a Tale, Perfect Picture and more recently, Love or Something Like That featuring Nigeria’s OC Ukeje. Last year, OC featured in a couple of films most of them films that had their breaks in the cinema like 2015 South African film ‘Ayanda’, ‘Gone to Far’ and ‘The Department’. He disclosed that there are a few movies he took part in last year that will be released in 2016 and that he has received invitation to star in a couple of films including an international production. OC also yearns for an opportunity to delve into personal projects, both acting related and otherwise, this year.

uche
Popular actress, scriptwriter and producer Uche Jombo-Rodriquez was not particularly busy last year as an actress but she signed a couple of productions as producer. She confessed that she had to keep the home front together having just had a baby who clocked one in December. Now the Abia-born actress who has featured in over 100 movies and has written and co-written several scripts including ‘Visa to Hell’ and ‘A Time to Love’, is back and she confirmed during the week that her management team has been working to see how they can manage her work schedule in 2016. Uche disclosed that she starred in an Open University movie project titled, ‘I Believe’ which will be released this year. She also hinted that she has her directorial debut movies titled ‘Lost in Us’ and ‘Within these Walls’ to helm this year.

Queen Nwokoye
If 100 movies were released in 2015 from the Eastern flank of the Nigerian movie industry, the delectable Queen Nwokoye will be in 80 of them. The native of Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State and a graduate of Sociology was that busy. The old girl of Queen’s School, Enugu, an alumnus of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and star of commercially successful productions like ‘Ada Mbano’, ‘Rebecca the Keke Driver’ and ‘Nneka My Daughter’ anticipates a busy year this year. In fact, a close source disclosed that she has already wrapped up work on a movie this year.

Funke Akindele
Funke Akindele had a busy year last year working to tee off the Jenifa Diary project and also working hard to satisfy industry producers who wanted her in their movies. She hinted that she has her hands filled in 2016. She stated that she would lead her crew to continue work on Jenifa’s Diary and then on a new television series and a movie. She also intends to empower more young people through The Jenifa Foundation (TJF). According to her: “The foundation is all about empowering young people and helping discover and develop their God-given talents”.

Bukky Wright

Bukky Wright

Bukky Wright
Clearly one of the leading ladies of the Nigerian screen acting skies, Oluwabukola Sekinat Ajoke Wright re-emerged as a constant visitor in most homes for the better part of 2015 featuring in both English and Yoruba language productions and on major television soaps. A product of the Economics Department of the University of Lagos, Bukky shuttled a lot between movie locations, taking care of family and superintending over her clothing line business: the Bukky Wright Collections. The delectable actress confirmed that it would be a busy year for her this year as well.

Joseph Benjamin
Popular as Joe Ben, Joseph Benjamin had a great year in 2015 and it looks as if it is going to be a particularly busy year in 2016 for the Kogi-born star of critical acclaimed movies like ‘Tango With Me’, ‘Married But Living Single’, ‘Torn’ and ‘Mr. and Mrs’. Regular host of MTN Project Fame, a musician and a multi-award winning actor, movies that benefitted from Joe Ben’s acting chops in 2015 include ‘While You Slept’, ‘Iyore’, ‘What’s Within’, ‘Affairs of the Heart’ and ‘Mum, Dad, Meet Sam’

Rita Dominic
Rita-DominicuseThe delectable actress Rita Dominic had a busy year last year. Apart from her brief as the ambassador of the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF), the award-winning actress, star of the award-winning movie ‘The Meeting’ and co-founder of The Audrey Silva Company (TASC) spent the better part of the year working and helping to promote the epic production by Frank Rajah titled ‘Iyore’ and Christian Olayinka’s ‘The Guest’ starring Femi Jacobs. The movies were released earlier in 2015. The star actress hinted that she has a busy year this year and part of what she will be engaged in will include working on a Blessing Egbe’s new movie ‘One Room’ and a few other productions including a new one from the stable of TASC.

Those on the short list—- Omoni Oboli, Linda Ejiofor, Kiki Omeili, Blossom Chukwujekwu, Tope Tedela, Wale Ojo, Femi Jacobs, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, Bayray McNwizu, Uru Eke, Beverly Naya, Adesuwa Etomi, Alex Ekubbo, Chidi Ihezie Okafor, Kalu Ikeagwu, Belinda Effah, Bishop Ime Umoh, Sylvya Oluchy, Judith Audu, Bimbo Manuel, Segun Arinze, Doris Simeon, Kemi Lala Akindoju, Ijeoma Grace Agu, Gabriel Afolayan, Seun Akindele, etc etc.

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