It’s no longer secret that Nollywood actresses make up a very small percentage of actresses who are not from Nigeria but from other African countries, but there are trailblazers leading the way in the quest for equal representation.

Check out below 7 Nollywood Actresses who are from other African countries:

 

1. Princess Shyngle, Gambia

Princess Shyngle is a Ghana-based Nollywood and Ghallywood actress and an Instagram model from Gambia. She is known for her voluptuous figure. She was born on 25th December 1990 in Banjul, Gambia. She is currently 30 years old. Her father’s name is Mr. Winston Shyngle, he was a former deputy Mayor of Banjul in Gambia. Her mother’s name is Ramatoulie Cham, she is a business woman.

 

She is very beautiful, gifted, skillful, creative and talented in acting and interpretation of movie roles. She knows how to interpret her roles very well and can fit in any character given to her by movie directors and producers.

Princess Shyngle attended Ndowa Comprehensive School in Banjul, Gambia for her primary and secondary school education and obtained both her First School Leaving Certificate and West African Senior School Certificate.

 

Her interest in acting came when she was told that Nollywood movie producers are looking for an actor to represent Gambia in an international reality show “The Next Movie Star Africa”.

However, Princess Shyngle is an Instagram model. She is known for posting raunchy photos of herself and pictures of her flaunting her hour-glass figure. According to her, she got her hour-glass figure from wearing waist trainers.

Princess Shyngle is known to have dated a couple of famous Ghanaian celebrities like International footballer Michael Essien and rapper D-Black. Princess Shyngle rose to fame when she starred in the movie “Why Should I Get Married” a movie that brought her to limelight and gave her a lot of advantage in both Nollywood and Ghallywood.

 

2. Liz Da-Silva, Togo

Elizabeth Omowunmi Tekovi Da-Silva, born June 10, 1978, is a Nigerian-born actress and movie producer of Togolese descent featuring predominantly in the Nigerian Yoruba movie industry.

The actress and producer started her career in 2004. She appears mostly in Yoruba movies. She is a well known and well featured actress in the Yoruba movie world. She runs a charity event annually which is known as Ankara Ball.

 

Her parents are from Togo, but she was born in Lagos Island. She grew up in Obalende. She still have links with her Togolese family. Most of them are still on the island. Her grandparents met and married in Lagos Island. Her mum also met her father on the island. She has no intention of going to live in Togo. She believes Nigeria is the place she’s known all her life.

Liz’s parent were separated and her mother died before she started acting. She however did not grow up or live with her dad, she grew up with her mother who was a single mother.

 

She got inspired into the theater world from her secondary school days when they used to do school drama.

After her nursery/primary and secondary educations, she later proceeded to LASU on Anthony campus, Lagos for further studies.

She started her journey in Yoruba movies when she was introduced by a colleague of hers, Iyabo Ojo who introduced her to Muka Ray.

She released her own movie in 2012, titled MAMA INSURANCE a movie which was quite a buzz in 2012, the movie has an all-female cast. According to her she just wanted to do something different. But then, she’s not the first person to ever shoot a movie that features only actresses.

 

In the movie, she featured the likes of Ayo Mogaji, Lanre Hassan, Iyabo Ojo, Ronke Ojo, and Doris Simon, among many others. She had to start producing movies in order to churn out stories that would impact positively on people’s lives.

In 2016 Da-Silva was nominated for City People Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress of the Year (Yoruba) at City People Entertainment Awards and in 2018 won the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role at Best of Nollywood Awards.

 

3. Jackie Appiah, Ghana

Jackie Appiah is one of the most beautiful actresses in the Nollywood Industry. She is a beautiful, creative and talented actress and does very good in filming and acting.

Jackie Appiah was born on December 5, 1983 where she was born in Canada and she was raised there during her early childhood before moving down to Ghana with her mother at age 10.

Jackie Appiah is the last child of five children and she hails from kumasi, Ghana. Her father is kwabena Appiah who is currently residing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

 

Jackle Appiah started her acting career in 2001 when her appearance on screen became regular when was invited by Edward Seddoh Junior, the writer of Things we do for love, where she played the role of Enyonam Blagogee. After which she featured in other movies and TV series like Tentacles, Suncity, Games people play and many others.

Jackie Appiah was able to join the Nigerian Nollywood Industry because of her successful outcome from her hit Ghanaian movies such as Beyonce-The President Daughter, Princess Tyranny etc. Ever since she joined the Nigerian Nollywood Industry, she have been featured in over 100 movies, the notable ones being Black soul, bitter blessing and last wedding.

Aside from her acting career, she have been seen as brand ambassador on so many billboards and TV commercials in Ghana including a GSMD advert on protection against HIV/AIDS which was her First TV Commercial.

 

Jackie Appiah won the face of U.B in a promotion she did for them on TV commercials and she is currently the face of IPMC for commercial and billboards.

Jackie Appiah is a very gifted, talented and creative actress who have acted alongside with other associate acts such as Van Vicker,Yvonne Nelson, Tonto Dikeh, Jim Iyke, Olu Jacobs, Nonso Diobi amongst others.

Jackie Appiah is currently married to her heartrob, Mr Peter Agyemang in 2005 and marriage is blessed with a son.

Jackie Appiah is an award-winning actress and have won numerous awards such as best actress in a leading role at the 2010 Africa movie academy awards, best actress in a supporting role at the Africa movie academy awards in 2007 and so many others.

 

4. Yvonne Nelson, Ghana

Yvonne Nelson is an award winning Ghallywood and Nollywood actress, model, film maker, entrepreneur and philanthropist known for her role in the movie “Princess Tyra”.

She’s quite talented and creative and has been known for her intriguing roles in both Ghanaian and Nigerian movies.

Yvonne Nelson who is a descent of the Fante people of Ghana, was born on November 12, 1985 in Accra, Ghana.

 

She attended St Martin de Porres school and Aggrey memorial senior high school. She also obtained a degree in Human Resource Management at the Central University College.

Yvonne Nelson started her acting career in 2000 and quickly rose to fame in 2007 with a lead role in the movie “Princess Tyra”.

She eventually delved into movie production in 2011 and made a mark in both Nigerian and Ghanaian movies.

Her first movie produced was “The Price” which was followed up “Single and married” in 2012.

 

Aside acting, Nelson is also a philanthropist. She founded the Yvonne Nelson Glaucoma Foundation in 2010.

Nelson has starred in quite a number of movies which include Princess Tyra, House of Gold, Forbidden Fruit, Any other Monday, Crime Suspect, Single and Married, Heart of Men, Fantasia, Losing You, Material Girl, Deadly Passion, Desperate to live, Classic Love.

Nelson gave birth to her daughter, Ryn Roberts on October 29, 2017. The father of her child is James Roberts, a British photographer.

 

5. Connie Kabarry, Kenya

Connie Kabarry, is a fast rising Nollywood actress from Kenya.

She was born and raised in Kenyam The award-winning actress ventured into Nigeria’s film industry, Nollywood, few years ago. She has worked with renowned actors from across the continent, notably, John Okafor alias Mr Ibu.

Life wasn’t rosy for the talented actress as she, at the tender age of 14, lost her father, Richard Francis, who was their sole breadwinner at the time, culminating in her dropping out of school. Her mother, Angela Mwikali, could only afford to put one of them through school.

 

From the little Connie’s mother could raise was managing her kiosk and a few other side hustles, she was able to put her through Form One.

After a while, the ‘family friend’ made an offer to take care of her whole family with the price being given her hand in marriage. Out of quest for good wellbeing, her mother acceded to the proposal and asked Connie to accept it. She divulged that the man was close to 15 years older than her.

He took her back to school, at Changamwe Girls Day School closer to his home and rented out a place for her family. Though she lived with her mother, she would also spend time with him when he asked. At 16, she conceived and had to drop out of school in Form Three.

After her first child, Connie was later asked by her mother to move in with the man and live as husband and wife. She revealed that though they had several disparities, she did it for her family.

She didn’t want to disappoint her mother and siblings who depended entirely on the man for most of their daily needs. In 2004, she conceived and gave birth to her second child.

 

Their marriage was full of ups and downs, including several physical fights to the point she entertained the idea of a murder-suicide involving her and her children. Sadly, her mother passed on, five months after the birth of her second born.

She worked odd jobs, operating a kiosk and selling charcoal to try and keep her family together, however, efforts to try and salvage her marriage were unfruitful, and in 2009, she opted out. Connie moved with her children to Lolwe estate, in Kisumu to try and start a new life.

Her break in life came when she had visited her elder sister in Mombasa, Kenya, who asked Connie to accompany her to a club where she met her now-husband, Kevin Omondi Migot popularly known as Dola Kabarry. He is a Nairobi-based Benga musician and was in Mombasa to perform at the time.

Connie was introduced to the musician by her sister after the party, and a while later, he got in contact with her asking her out.

One day, she received a call from Dola. They went on a date and he confessed to her that he was in a dead relationship and was in the process of divorcing his estranged wife. She felt she had finally met someone who understood what she was going through. In 2012, Dola proposed to her. Later, after paying the bride price, he took up the responsibility of her children. He made sure they attended school and paid their school fees.

Connie had intimated to her husband the desire she bore for acting and being a loving husband, above all a best friend, he introduced her to a number of Kenyans film producers, actors, and actresses. Though she did not get much out of the first few engagements, she never gave up.

In may 2017, she contacted a family friend she identified as Nelson Socheere who was on a trip to Nigeria and informed him of her passion for acting, and boom, the doors opened. He introduced her to Ibu.

Her great moment came in May last year when she contacted a Kenyan family friend, Nelson Sechere, who was on a visit to Nigeria. Little did she know that he was a close ally of Nigerian actor and comedian John Okafor, Mr. Ibu.

 

As soon as she informed him of my interest to feature in a Nollywood movie, he introduced her to Mr Ibu who invited her over to the country’s Enugu State to audition for a film role alongside actors Kenneth Okonkwo and Nkem Owoh.

Since then, her career has been on the rise. She featured alongside talented actors from Africa’s largest film industry and in 2018, her very own produced movie, Almost Perfect, debuted on February 2, 2018.

Since then, she has been starring in a lot of Nollywood movies.

 

6. Okawa Shaznay, Cameroon

Okawa Shaznay is a Nollywood actress from Cameroon and the first from her country to successfully break into Nollywood with her role in the blockbuster movie Iyore starring alongside.Rita Dominic and Joseph Benjamin. Okawa Shaznay has also gained more prominence with her leading role in the 2016 hit TV series Delilah: The Mysterious Case of Delilah Ambrose.

Okawa Shaznay originally hails from Bamenda, Cameroon, born 29th May 1986, is a Professional Nollywood Actress, and a Model.

She was born and brought up in Bemenda, Cameroon.

 

Okawa Shaznay Obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Texas Southern University.

Okawa was influenced to pursue an acting career in Nollywood after watching classic 90s Nigerian soaps like; “After the Storm”, and movies like “Glamour Girls”, “Scores to Settle”, and “Living in Bondage”.

Okawa shazney in her very first movie titled Master DJ, and produced in Cameroon by Sarabi Pictures in 2004 just before leaving to the U.S. While in Houston, she joined the All Africa Theater group with whom she moved on the road with for 2 summers performing an adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”. After then, she went on to do a little over 10 African films in the U.S working alongside some of Nollywood’s biggest stars.

 

Shaznay later moved back to Africa where she starred in her first big-screen role in the movie titled, Cheaters, and directed by the legendary Frank Rajah Arase. In 2014, she starred in her first movie in Nigeria, the hit blockbuster “Iyore” which released in cinemas in 2015, starring alongside Nollywood superstar Rita Dominic and Joseph Benjamin. ? Among the few Cameroonian fast rising acts in African cinema today, Okawa also featured in the 2016 TV series “Delilah”, where she played a leading role.

Shaznay was nominated as Most Promising Actress in the 2nd annual 2013 GIAMA awards. In 2014, she was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Award by the Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards. She was nominated in 2015 for Actress of the Year (Africa) Award by Nigeria Entertainment Awards. She won the Exquisite Lady of the Year (ELOY) award for TV Actress of the year in 2017.

 

7. Memry Savanhu, Zimbabwe

Memry Savanhu is a Zimbabwean-born Nollywood actress, filmmaker and an entrepreneur but based in Lagos and partially London.

She studied drama in London and also studied film making at New York Film Academy in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E between 2008 and 2009.

Savanhu was reportedly born in Zimbabwe and revealed to Nigerian Guardian Newspaper that she is of Zezuru ethnicity.

She has so far starred in several nollywood movies such as ’76 (2016), One Fine Day (2015), Maria’s Vision (2014), On Bended Knees (2013), Lagos Cougars (2013), Lagos Catwalk (2012).

Pulse Nigeria gathered that Savanhu is divorced and has two children.