Spotlight: St. Genevieve Nnaji

Her full name is Genevieve Nnaji. Born on the 3rd of May, 1979 She is a diva, an actress, singer, Model& a globally recognized philanthropist.  Genevieve hails from Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria but grew up in Lagos. She is the fourth out of eight children; ser father worked as an engineer and her mother as a school teacher. She attended Methodist Girls College, Yaba-Lagos before transferring into the University of Lagos.

While at the university, she began auditioning for acting jobs amongst the many Nollywood projects Genevieve studied at the University of Lagos, where she first attempted to venture into professional acting as an adult, by auditioning for acting roles available.Genevieve started her acting career as a child actress in the then popular television soap opera, 'RIPPLES' at the age of 8. In 1998 at the age of 19 she was introduced into the growing Nigerian film industry with the movie "Most Wanted". Her subsequent movies include Last Party, Mark of the Beast & Ijele.  In 2010 she starred in the award winning film Ijé: The Journey. Nnaji has starred in over 80 Nollywood movies. Genevieve Nnaji is considered to be one of the best paid actresses in Nollywood. In 2004 she signed a recording contract with, EKB Records, a Ghanaian record label, and released her debut album One Logologo Line, a mix of R&B, Hip-Hop and Urban music. 
She became a household name and the role model of every young girl. In 2002, she starred in the movie Sharon Stone, and her fame shot beyond the shores of Nigeria to the rest of Africa and several European countries. One can say that through the buzz, Genevieve reinvented the Nigerian film Industry, introducing Nollywood to the rest of the world.  Genevieve appeals just as warmly to Kenyans, Liberians, South Africans, Tanzanian Gambia and Ghanaians, who avidly watch Nigerian home videos at home and abroad. Genevieve has led the market into new territories today.  She took the extra step of projecting herself beyond Nigeria by having a Web site constructed back in 2003, and it was arguably the most-visited Nigerian site on the Internet. Its fame spread like wildfire, a jolly virus: 3549 hits on 355 pages in two weeks. Her recent role in a Hollywood buckbuster movie, 'Half Of A Yellow Sun', produced by Andrea Calderwood, Gail Egan, Muhtar Bakare... spread  her glory wider than ever.  Genevieve Nnaji has a beautiful daughter, Chimebuka, who is usually mistaken to be her younger sister. This is because the daughter has grown so big and is as beautiful as the mother, if not more.

Genevieve has featured in several commercials some of which include Pronto Beverages and Omo Detergent. In 2004 she became the"Face of Lux in Nigeria in a highly lucra­tive spon­sor­ship deal. In 2008 she launched her clothing line, "St. Genevieve", which donates its proceeds to charity. In May 2010 Genevieve was appointed to be the official "Face of MUD" in Nigeria.  She also won the 'Best Actress of the year' at the inaugural AMAA that same year. She was nominated, voted for and officially won the face of Lux beauty soap for sub-Saharan Africa in 2004.  Appeared in Maria Claire Magazine alongside Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Aniston, and Catherine Zeta-Jones in an article about who is the most beautiful woman in your world, in which she came fourth.  The first woman to host the Gulder Ultimate Search and the first host of "Gulder Ultimate Search--Celebrity Showdown.". Loves Angelina Jolie for her humanitarian work. Voted as the sexiest Nollywood actress in poll conducted by Vanguard Newspaper in 2008.  Has been referred to as the 'Julia Roberts of Africa' by Oprah Winfrey and Cable News Network (CNN). In its 20 years of publishing, News/Politics magazine, TELL has never put a Nigerian entertainer on it's cover until Genevieve Nnaji graced one of its June 2011 editions. Ranked #19 in Forbes "40 Most Powerful Celebrities In Africa" 2011  She was rumored to have dated the popular Nigeria singer D'banj from sometime around the year 2009; the rumors were even backed up with the fact that she was featured in one of D'banj's hit song music video 'Fall in love' which shows them kissing intimately (Rumors).

Genevieve has received several awards and nominations for her work, including the Best Actress of the year award at the 2001 City People Awards and the Best Actress in a Leading Role award at the 2005 African Movie Academy Awards amongst others. She has also represented brands like Lux, Cintrion Energy drink, Range Rover Evoque, Etisalat, Polo and Amstel Malta. The Etisalat deal alone reportedly earned her N100 million.  And many more endorsements from the pasts.