SEE 21 NIGERIAN FAMOUS AND SUCCESSFUL CELEBRITIES IN THE WORLD

 

Olubowale Victor Akintimehin was born on September 21, 1984, in Northwest, Washington, D.C.. His parents were both from the Yoruba ethnic group of southwestern Nigeria, and both of them came from Austria to the United States in 1979. Wale's family first lived in Northwest, Washington, D.C. and then moved to Montgomery County, when Wale was at the age of 10.

In 2002, he graduated from the Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and moved to Largo, Maryland in Prince George's County. Wale attended Robert Morris University and Virginia State University on football scholarships, then transferred to Bowie State University. However, he dropped out due to academic reasons. He is a music rapper

  

Kae-Kazim was born in Lagos, Nigeria, where he spent his early years before his family re-located to London, England. His interest in acting began with school plays and The National Youth Theatre, which is when he discovered that he had "a love for theatre, for acting". He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, graduating in 1987 and was offered a space with The Royal Shakespeare Company, where he continued his classical training.

After working alongside Brian Cox and Ian McKellen for The Royal National Theatre, Kae-Kazim made a successful transition into British television, appearing in The Bill, Trial & Retribution and multiple episodes of popular BBC series Grange Hill.  He then moved to South Africa, where he became well known for film and television roles.^[2] However, it was his role as Georges Rutaganda in the critically acclaimed and Oscar nominated film Hotel Rwanda, which brought him to international attention.

 

Cruz was born in London, to a Nigerian father and a Brazilian mother. He attended Christ's Hospital, a private boarding school in Horsham, West Sussex.
Cruz's songwriting career began as part of Tricky Stewart's writing collective, RedZone Entertainment and achieved notability in 2005 when he was awarded a Brit Award for co-writing Will Young's 2004 single, "Your Game".
Cruz is the founder and chief executive of Rokstarr Music London, which in 2006 released his debut single "I Just Wanna Know". The single charted at #29 in the UK singles charts. It won him some admirers including Island Records's Darcus Beese and Monte Lipman, who, according to manager Binns, "both believed 'I Just Wanna Know' fitted the format on both sides of the Atlantic". In 2006, Cruz signed a split single deal with Universal Music Group companies, Republic Records and the UK branch of Island Records.

 

Akinnuoye-Agbaje was born in Islington, London, to Nigerian parents of Yoruba origin, who were students in the UK. When he was six weeks old, his biological parents gave him up to a white working-class family in Tilbury. This was a common practice in this era among Nigerian families, when parents sent young children to live in the UK with white foster parents in the hopes their children would have better lives. His foster parents had at least ten African children, including Akinnuoye-Agbaje's two sisters, living in their house at certain points. His foster father made a living as a lorry driver and struggled to support the family financially.

When he was eight years old, his biological parents brought him back to Nigeria but, as he was unable to speak the Yoruba language and forbidden by his parents to speak English, he was returned to Tilbury shortly thereafter. The brief exposure to Nigeria left him struggling to reconcile his heritage with the distinctly British culture and environment he was raised in. As a young boy, facing a cultural identity crisis, he joined a local skinhead gang in order to escape racial persecution at their hands. At 16 years old, having become a thief, his foster parents sent him to a boarding school in Surrey where he ultimately attempted suicide before coming to terms with his background and turning his life around.
He went on to earn a Law degree from King's College London and a Masters in Law from the University of London. While a university student, Akinnuoye-Agbaje worked in a clothes shop where he was introduced to the world of modelling.

 

Edun was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to Nigerian financier Olawale Edun and half-Ghanaian, half-English Amy Adwoa (née Appiah). His maternal uncle is the philosopher, cultural theorist and novelist Kwame Anthony Appiah.  His maternal grandparents were Ghanaian lawyer, diplomat and politician Joseph Emmanuel Appiah- a Nana of the Ashanti people through whom Edun is a descendant of Ghanaian warrior emperor Osei Tutu- and art historian Peggy Cripps, daughter of Sir Stafford Cripps, Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1947-50 and son of the first Lord Parmoor.
Edun moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 11. He attended Eton College from the age of 13, before reading Classics at Christ's College, Cambridge (University of Cambridge).  In his final year at Christ's College, he won the dissertation prize for his thesis on Homer's Odyssey.  His father, a financier, encouraged Edun to enter banking as a career, and he interned with Citigroup.  He considered studying for a Master of Philosophy degree, but decided to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) instead.

 

Aduba was born in Boston, Massachusetts to American parents, of Igbo origin.
She grew up in Medfield, Massachusetts, and graduated from Medfield High School in 1999.  She attended Boston University, where she studied classical voice  and competed in track and field.  She describes her family as a "sports family".  Her younger brother, Obi, played hockey at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and went on to play six seasons professionally.s an American actress. She is known for her role as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren on the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019), for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2014, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2015, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series in 2014 and 2015.  She is one of only two actors to win an Emmy Award in both the comedy and drama categories for the same role, the other being Ed Asner for the character Lou Grant.

 

Dayo was born in Jos and grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, and has four siblings.  His father is a retired customs officer from Nigeria, and his mother is a literature teacher from Kenya. In 2003, he moved with his family to Indiana, United States, from Nigeria and later moved to California. He earned a bachelor's degree in visual communications at Anderson University (Indiana) in 2009.
Prior to being cast in The Hunger Games, Okeniyi worked in local theatre and in film shorts.Okeniyi starred 2014 in the drama film Endless Love, also portrayed Danny Dyson in the 2015 film Terminator Genisys and starred in the NBC series Shades of Blue.

 

 Chikezie was born in England to Nigerian parents of Igbo origin.  At fourteen, Chikezie was sent to boarding school in Nigeria in an attempt to make her abandon her dreams to become an actress. Prior to this she had attended weekend classes at Italia Conti. On her return to the United Kingdom she enrolled into Brunel University where she studied Medicinal Chemistry (she was expected to take over her father's hospital in Nigeria), but dropped out of school. She later won a scholarship to the UK’s Academy of Live and Recorded Arts.
^{Caroline Chikezie is a British Nigerian actress, best known for playing Sasha Williams in As If, Elaine Hardy in Footballers' Wives   and the Cyberwoman in Torchwood.} 

  

Anozie was born in London, England, of Igbo Nigerian descent. He graduated from the Central School of Speech and Drama in 2002, and in the summer of the same year he played the title role in William Shakespeare's King Lear, and won the Ian Charleson Award in 2004 for his performance in Othello.