Kenneth Okolie
Kenneth Obinna Okolie (born February 21, 1984) is a Nigerian actor and model who was crowned Mr Nigeria in 2010[4] and in 2015 won the City People Movie Award for Best Supporting Actor of the Year (English) at the City People Entertainment Awards.[5][6][7]
Kenneth Okolie | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kenneth Obinna Okolie 21 February 1984 |
| Nationality | Nigerian |
| Alma mater | Valley View University[1][2] |
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 2006-Present |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[3] |
Early life and education
Okolie is a native of Ihiala in Anambra state a southeastern geographical area of Nigeria predominantly occupied by the igbo people of Nigeria. Okolie is the first born child of his parents and has three siblings. He graduated with a B.Sc. degree from Valley View University in Ghana.[8][9]
Modeling and acting career
Okolie before his debut into the Nigerian movie industry began as a model[10] in 2006, in which he described as a coincidence as he merely escorted a friend to an audition for models and never intended to participate in the auditioning process but was compelled to audition by those conducting the audition of which he accepted their request and auditioned. He was successful in the audition and was selected hence debuting his career as a model. In 2010, four years after debuting his modeling career, Okolie participated in the Mr Nigeria male pageant and won.[11][12] Okolie after winning the pageant, proceeded to the Mister World pageant and emerged as the second runner. Okolie debuted into the Nigerian movie industry in 2011. Okolie described his venture into the Nigerian movie industry as a coincidence as well as he never intended to be an actor.[13][14]
Award
Okolie won the City People Movie Award for Best Supporting Actor of the Year (English) at the City People Entertainment Awards.[15][16]
Personal life
Okolie married Nwaka Jessica in 2017 and in 2019 gave birth to their first child.[17][18][19]
2012 Kidnap case
In 2012 Okolie travelled to Owerri which is the capital of Imo state for the purpose of shooting a movie alongside Nollywood colleague; Nkiru Sylvanus. It was reported that on December 15th both Okolie and Nkiru Sylvanus had been abducted and a ransom of ₦100,000,000 (One hundred million naira) which was per exchange rate in 2012 equivalent to $640,000 (Six Hundred and forty thousand U.S dollars) was demanded by their captors in exchange for their release.[20][21] On December 21 2012 at 10:30pm on the 6th day since their kidnap Okolie and co-actor Nkiru Sylvanus were released from captivity and regained freedom. The amount eventually paid in exchange for their release was never reported by the Nigerian media.[22][23][24][25]
Selected filmography
| N° | Movie Title | Year | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aina | 2011 | Bako |
| 2 | Keeping My Man | 2013 | |
| 3 | House Husband | 2015 | Chude |
| 4 | Gbomo Gbomo Express | (2015)[26] | |
| 5 | 25th Birthday | 2016 | Melvin |
| 6 | My Name is Kadi | 2016 | |
| 7 | Trouble Comes To Town | 2016 | Benny |
| 8 | A Girl’s Note | 2016 | Ken |
| 9 | Evol | 2017 | Kamari |
| 10 | Strangers | 2017 | Reginald |
| 11 | Mystified | 2017 | Teddy |
| 12 | Stormy Hearts | 2017 | |
| 13 | Next Door | 2017 | |
| 14 | The Royal Hibiscus Hotel | 2017 | Deji[27][28] |
| 15 | Different Worlds | 2019 | Ike |
| 16 | Molly’s Love Story | Tony | |
| 17 | Black Coffee | Francis Adu | |
| 18 | Reaction | 2019 | Desmond |
| 19 | Snap | 2019 | Jerry |
| 20 | Mr & Mrs ABAKOBA | Ifeanyi | |
| 21 | Drifted( When a soldier loves) | Ola | |
| 22 | Just a wish | Dave | |
| 23 | A Friendly Fire | Daniel | |
| 24 | Royal Tussle | ||
| 25 | This is not a love story | Kolawolé | |
| 26 | Borrowed Heart | ||
| 27 | Dear Ijeoma | Nicolas | |
| 28 | Hit and Run | ||
| 29 | A toast to a heart break | Michael | |
| 30 | Tripod | ||
| 31 | A long walk to nothing | ||
| 32 | 3 some | ||
| 33 | Reconciliation | ||
| 34 | My Silence | ||
| 35 | Stranger than ever | ||
| 36 | No strings attached | ||
| 37 | Wedlock | ||
| 38 | Bride with Gun | ||
| 39 | Lunch Times Heroes | ||
| 40 | Espionage | ||
| 41 | Kazbar | ||
| 42 | Date Night | ||
| 43 | A haunted Marriage | ||
| 44 | Open Scars | ||
| 45 | Ruth | ||
| 46 | One Bite | ||
| 47 | The Sassy One | Scott | |
| 48 | Promises are forever | Dan | |
| 49 | Deluded | ||
| 50 | Love isn't enough | ||
| 51 | The Cleansers | 2020 | |
| 52 | Stroke ok luck | 2020 | |
| 53 | The tea Room | ||
| 54 | A tiny line | ||
| 55 | Olive | ||
| 56 | Izunna | ||
| 57 | Rising Above | ||
| 58 | Oath of silence | ||
| 59 | Heart Ripper | ||
| 60 | Love and Shadow | ||
| 61 | Strength of love | ||
| 62 | Imperfect Me | ||
| 63 | Crumbles cookies | ||
| 64 | Fatal Attraction | ||
| 65 | The right kind of wrong | ||
| 66 | Jumbled | 2019 | Damilola |
| 67 | Mothers and daugthters in law | ||
| 68 | Don't get mad Get Even | ||
| 69 | Mr Black | ||
| 70 | RIFT | ||
| 71 | Lovers or Loosers (LOL) | ||
| 72 | Ignition | ||
| 73 | Chances | ||
| 74 | Ufuoma | ||
| 75 | True vows | ||
| 76 | The department | ||
| 77 | Rubbles of love | ||
| 78 | Just 2 hoours | ||
| 79 | A Girl's Note | ||
| 80 | Alera's Diary | ||
| 81 | PayBack |
TV Shows
| N° | TV Series Title | Year | Character | Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Desperate House Girls | 2013 | 1-2 | |
| 2 | Husbands of Lagos | 2015 | Akinlolu | 1-2-3 |
| 3 | Ojukwu | 2018 | Odili | 1-2 |
| 4 | Poison Ivy | |||
| 5 | The Suncity | Chris | 1 | |
| 6 | Singles Ladies | |||
| 7 | Before 30 | |||
| 8 | Skinny Girl in Transit |
References
- Okwara, Vanessa (2018-12-09). "Kenneth Okolie: Good-looking dude". Newtelegraph. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
- "Kenneth Okolie - iBAKATV | Home for Nollywood Movies". ibakatv.com. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
- "Former Mr. Nigeria And Actor Kenneth Okolie; All You Need To Know About Him". 246hits.com. 2019-04-20. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- "Former Mr Nigeria, Kenneth Okoli breaks hearts as he shows off his girlfriend for the first time". Vanguard Allure. 2017-02-09. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- "Finalists square up for Mr Nigeria 2018". guardian.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- Published. "Marriage cannot change my hot body – Former Mr. Nigeria, Kenneth Okolie". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- Famakin, Opeyemi (2018-02-23). "7 Things You Didn't Know About Former Mr. Nigeria And Actor Kenneth Okolie". vibe.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- Olayinka (2018-02-23). "Everything You Need To Know About Former Mr. Nigeria And Actor Kenneth Okolie". Information Nigeria. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- Famakin, Opeyemi (2018-02-23). "7 Things You Didn't Know About Former Mr. Nigeria And Actor Kenneth Okolie". vibe.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- "Kenneth Okolie – Silverbird Mr Nigeria". www.mrnigeriasilverbird.com. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- Adeniran, Raphel (2019-03-23). "Nollywood Celebrities Who Rose To Fame From Reality Shows". Eelive. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
- Published. "It's not true I shun low-budget movies – Kenneth Okolie". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- "I still have a crush on Ufuoma Ejenobor – Kenneth Okolie". Vanguard News. 2015-03-14. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- Ugonna, Chinenye (2014-10-26). "Dating actresses bad for business– Kenneth Okolie - Premium Times Nigeria". Retrieved 2019-12-16.
- Ochuwa, Akashat (2017-10-09). "List Of Winners At The 2017 City People Movie Awards". Concise News. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
- Aghahowa, Isoken (2019-10-31). "Nollywood Alive Actor Of The Week - Kenneth Okolie". Nollywood Alive. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- Omotayo, Joseph (2019-09-15). "Joy as Nollywood actor Kenneth Okolie and wife, Jessica welcome their 1st child". Legit.ng - Nigeria news. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- Bodunrin, Sola (2017-04-16). "Ladies! THIS former Mr Nigeria is off the market (photos)". www.legit.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- allure1 (2017-01-11). "Former Mr Nigeria, Kenneth Okolie gets engaged for the second time (Photos)". Vanguard Allure. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- Inyang, Ifreke (2012-12-18). "Revealed: Former Mr. Nigeria, Kenneth Okolie was kidnapped with Nkiru Sylvanus". Daily Post Nigeria. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- says, Lilian (2012-12-21). "Kidnappers release Nkiru Sylvanus and Kenneth Okolie". Nigerian Entertainment Today. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- "Nkiru Sylvanus and Kenneth Okolie Released By Kidnappers ⋆". www.herald.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- "Kenneth Okolie and Nkiru Sylvanus Regain Freedom".
- "News Flash: Nkiru Sylvanus, Kenneth Okolie Regain Freedom". www.thenigerianvoice.com. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- "Nkiru Sylvanus, Kenneth Okolie released!". Vanguard News. 2012-12-21. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- "'Gbomo Gbomo Express' Movie featuring Ramsey Nouah, Gideon Okeke, Osas Ighodaro gets release date". www.pulse.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
- ""The Royal Hibiscus Hotel" Stars Zainab Balogun And Kenneth Okolie Cover Guardian Life Today". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 2018-02-04. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- "Zainab Balogun, Kenneth Okolie star in 'Royal Hibiscus Hotel' movie » Entertainment » Tribune Online". Tribune Online. 2017-08-19. Retrieved 2019-12-15.