Merciful Mercy Johnson

Mercy Johnson is one of Nollywood's most rapidly developing actresses - able to undertake roles in a variety of styles. "Those who thought I could only act emotional roles were mistaken," she says, "I am a flexible actress. I do action films; I do bitchy roles. It’s not compulsory I do emotional roles; it is just that I carry emotional roles extremely well. Fine, most of my films are emotional films, but I have also done action films like Just Before The Ordination or Orungbeja; I’ve done quite a lot.

The Lagos-born actress says she has no objection to doing kissing scenes "I’ll do it over and again. I don’t have to charge more than my normal fees because I have to kiss in a movie," she says.

Mercy has appeared in movies such as Last Contact, Last Kiss, My Heart Your Home, Oh! Woman, Secret Game, Kill The Bride, Women In Power, House Party, In The Name Of Money and Into Temptation.

Rukky Sanda - Richest Actress?

Ever since Rukky Sanda entered the Nigerian movie industry in 2004, she has provided lots of entertainment. She’s a great untapped acting talent, looks immaculate, and has loads of chutzpah. She’s also far from being a dumb broad, having a degree in Banking & Finance.

Rukky entered Nollywood in 2004 with her role in Angel and the Beast. She has succeeded in remaining scandal-free during that time although there has been some talk about a spat with fellow actress Mercy Johnson. As an Economics graduate, she understands the rules of production. Her latest movie, 'The Lethal Woman' is a testimony to that fact. She is allegedly one of the richest actresses around.

Stephanie Invades Hollywood

Stephanie Okereke’s new film Through the Glass has premiered in the United States, representing another milestone in the development of Nollywood. It was apparently well received. Why did Stephenie decide to make a Nollywood movie actually in Hollywood? “I wanted to do something different and I have been writing from when I was little,” she says, “I believe nothing is too difficult. It depends on how much you want it. I was at a stage in my career that I needed to do something unexpected to get to the next level.” Stephanie has already made over 100 movies in Nollywood.

The film was premiered before an invited audience at the Silver Screen Theatre of the Pacific Design Centre, Hollywood, California. Stephanie took the opportunity to also launch her new fashion line – the SO Collection - at the same event.

Stephanie has trained at the New York Film Academy and is therefore the ideal person to act as a bridge between Hollywood and Nollywood. The movie tells the story of the struggle of a traditional black girl having to deal with the attentions of a modern white man in an unbalanced power situation.

Rita Dominic - Best Dressed Actress

Nollywood actress Rita Dominic was the centre of attraction at a presentation in her honour at the Swe Bar in Lagos recently. Rita had been judged as the best dressed Nollywood actress following a poll conducted by Gistmaster, Nigeria’s online tabloid.
“We were overwhelmed by the massive reactions we received from Nigerians from all over the world,” said the organisers, “You need to see their interesting comments to value their approach to glamour and the movie industry.
Rita has appeared in over 150 movies including the Total Control series, the Girls Cot series and the Yahoo Millionaire series.

Genevieve in Uganda

Nollywood’s hottest property, Genevieve Nnaji will be travelling to Kampala next month for the Ugandan film awards. On November 21st, she will be taking part in a ‘Meet the Stars’ event with Ramsey Nuoah at the Ggaba Beach on the shores of Lake Victoria. This is a great coup for the organisers because Genevieve is known to hate publicity. “That wasn’t what I set out for,” she says, “I set out to act because it’s something I enjoy doing. But the fame came with it. I’m not here for the fame. I really do love my work,”

Genevieve has starred in over 100 movies including the Sharon Stone series, Honey, Agony and Private Sin.

Genevieve believes in paying active attention to her website and has some excellent ideas for it: “What I’m doing is I’m planning to make the best use of it, since I have so many people on my site. I’m trying to make it more interesting, more like a TV show on the Internet. I’m going to be running games on my show. I’m going to be asking questions to find out how well they know me. There’s going to be gifts. There’s going to be prizes.”

Ijeoma Imoh - Rising Star

Ijeoma Imoh – Brains and Beauty



As a graduate in Business Administration, Ijeoma Imoh is not your typical Nollywood Babe. She has clear views on the way the industry should be developing: “Firstly, they should try to have better story lines, do more research before coming up with a story. Secondly, they should learn not to stereotype people to a particular character. Finally, they should also be able to give different roles to people in different movies so that people do not start thinking it’s the persons natural right.”
Ijeoma has appeared in about fifteen movies so far including Emotional Risk, Untapped Gold, Desperate Need, Daytime Lover, End of Discussion.
Ijeoma speaks with approval of the Sexiest Actress competition recently organised by Vanguard newspapers – her only disappointment being that she didn’t win it herself – but the honour went to Genevieve Nnaji. “Personally I think she deserves it,” Ijeoma says charmingly, “She merits it because she's put in so much into Nollywood.”