Nigerians in Hollywood Part Four

Now we enter the fourth round of the series on Nigerians in Hollywood.

Carmen Ejogo

Best known for: Selma

Carmen Ejogo   Picture: www.zimbio.com

Carmen Elizabeth Ejogo, actress and singer, was born in 1973 in Kensington, London. Her father, Charles Ejogo is a Nigerian while her mother, Elizabeth is Scottish.

She attended Godolphin and Latymer School, and independent school for girls in Hammersmith, West London. Carmen began her career early in life. She started acting in 1986, appearing in films such as Absolute Beginners (1986), Metro (1997), I Want You (1998) and The Avengers (1998). She also hosted the Saturday Disney Show as a teenager from 1993 to 1995.

Years later, she was also the presenter of her own show, The Carmen Ejogo Video Show on BSB’s Power Channel.

In the US her TV credits include roles in Law & Order, CHAOS, Zero Hour and Kidnapped. She played the role of Sally Hemings, the slave lover of US President Thomas Jefferson in the historical drama Sally Hemings: An American Scandal.

Recently Carmen has appeared in highly rated movies such as Alex Cross (2012), the musical film Sparkle (2012), and action horror film The Purge: Anarchy (2014).

She played the role of human rights activist Coretta Scott King in two films – Boycott (2001) and Selma (2014). Her breathtaking performance in Selma earned her a nomination for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture as well as the Independent Spirit Award for the Best Supporting Female Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actress.

As a singer, she produced music videos and sang the lead and duet with her ex-husband, hip-hop artist Tricky for the film Love’s Labour’s Lost. She also sang on five songs of the Sparkle original soundtrack.

Her upcoming films, Alien: Covenant and Sorry to Bother You will hit the screens in 2017.

Dayo Okeniyi

Best known for: Terminator Genisys

Dayo Okeniyi       Picture: www.npr.org

Oladayo Okeniyi was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Okeniyi, the youngest of five siblings, was born in 1988 in Indiana, USA. His father is a Nigerian while his mother is Kenyan. Shortly after he was born, his family moved back to Nigeria but returned to the USA when he was 15. He attended Anderson University, Indiana where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communications and Graphic Design.

After graduation he decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, initially working in local theatre and film shorts. Then in 2012 he played the role of Thresh in the science fiction adventure film The Hunger Games. After that, jobs came thick and fast. He appeared in three films that were released in 2013 – The Spectacular Now, Runner Runner, and Cavemen. Then he got the lead role in the horror thriller, American Backwoods: Slew Hampshire.

The next year, he starred in the romantic drama film Endless Love, and then in 2015 he played Danny Simpson in the blockbuster Terminator Genisys, the fifth installment in the Terminator franchise.

This year, he has appeared in the just-released Good Kids, a film about four overachievers who decide to reinvent themselves after graduating from high school. He also stars as Detective Michael Loman in the crime drama series, Shades of Blue where he is famously shot by Jennifer Lopez, who plays the lead character

The 28-year-old star says he has definitely been rejected for roles because he is dark skinned and African. But he is not deterred, admitting that Hollywood has also been good to him.

Nikki Amuka-Bird

Best known for: The Omen

Nikki Amuka-Bird   Picture: www.alchetron.com

Nikki Amuka-Bird, an actress, was born in February 1976 in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region but she grew up in the UK and Antigua.

She started out as a dancer but switched to acting after suffering a back injury. Because of her love for theatre, she attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). It was during her tour of Japan with the RSC that she met her husband, actor Geoffrey Streatfield. He is a member of the historic Streatfield family.

So far Amuka-Bird has just one Hollywood film to her credit – The Omen, a 2006 supernatural horror film. The film, a remake of the 1976 classic, stars Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber and Mia Farrow.

However, in the UK where she resides with her husband, the talented actress has appeared in numerous TV roles and has performed onstage with the National Theatre and the Oxford Stage Company.

In 2004 she won an Ian Charleson Award nomination for playing Viola in Twelfth Night. She also played Mrs. Muller in the theatre version of Doubt. In the movie version, the role was played by Viola Davies (How to Get Away With Murder).

On TV she played DC Eric Gray opposite Idris Elba in the BBC1 drama, Luther. She also played a supporting role in Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus.

Amuka-Bird currently stars in the BBC adaptation of Zadie Smith’s novel “NW”. She plays the role of Natalie, a woman whose wealth and ambition sets her apart from the family and friends she grew up with.

Smith, the author of the novel, said she was glad that Amuka-Bird was playing the role of Natalie because she is “a powerful stage actress who I know will bring depth and heart to the role.”

There can be no better endorsement than that.

Itoya Osagiede

Best known for: American Odyssey

Itoya Osagiede   

Picture: www.thebwhagency.co.uk

Itoya Osagiede is a young and upcoming actor with Nigerian parents. He grew up in England and is one of the promising young actors both on stage and on screen.

On stage he starred in the award winning play, Blue/Orange. He played the role of Chris, a patient in a psychiatric hospital who claims to be the son of former Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin.

In 2014 he appeared in the short film Okora: The Prelude. He also played a role in Second Coming, starring Idris Elba. The next year Osagiede featured as a Malian military general in the TV series, American Odyssey. Thereafter he bagged the role of Tarn in the short-lived British epic fantasy mini series Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands.

Osagiede, who started acting at a very young age, says he has always been in love with film and theatre.

”My passion, commitment and motivation keeps pushing me forward and I know I will get to where I need to as long as I keep pushing myself.”

Expect to see more of him in future.