Omoni Oboli (born 22 April 1978) is a Nigerian actress, scriptwriter, film director, producer and a trained digital filmmaker. She studied at the New York Film Academy, and has written several screenplays such as; Fatal Imagination, Being Mrs Elliott, The First Lady, and Wives on Strike
Early life and education
Oboli was born in Benin City, Edo State. She is a descendant of Mosogar in Delta State. moni Oboli studied Foreign Languages (majoring in French) at the University of Benin, and graduated with honours (2nd Class Upper division).
Career
Omoni began her movie career with her first movie role in Bitter Encounter (1996), where she played a secretary. Her next was Shame. She then went on to play the lead female character in three major movies; Not My Will, Destined To Die and Another Campus Tale. After enjoying a brief career in 1996, Omoni left the movie industry to complete her university education. She married immediately after school and did not return to the industry until a decade later.
She has several screenplays to her credit, including her film Wives On Strike as well as The Rivals, a movie she co-produced with her friend and won the prize for Best International Drama at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival.It was the first Nigerian film to be premiered since the festival’s inception in 2003. The movie was given a 3-star rating out of 4 by the festival's judges.
Omoni has played lead roles in mainstream films, including: The Figurine (2009), Anchor Baby (2010), Being Mrs Elliot, and Fifty (2015). She is also the first actress from Nollywood to win Best Actress in two international festivals (that are not organized by Nigerians or Africans), in the same year (2010). This she did at the Harlem International Film Festival and the Los Angeles Movie Awards for her lead role in the movie Anchor Baby.
Awards and Nominations
In 2010, she won the award for Best Actress Narrative Feature at the Los Angeles Movie Awards, and the award for Best Actress at the Harlem International Film Festival] Omoni was nominated for the Best Actress in a leading role award at the 2011 Africa Movie Academy Awards.
In 2014, she won Big Screen Actress of the Year award, at the 2014 ELOY Awards, for her movie Being Mrs Elliott. In 2015, Omoni was awarded the Sun Nollywood "Personality of the Year", She has directed several movies such as Being Mrs Elliott, The First Lady, Wives on Strike, and Okafor's Law.
Legal issue
Omoni Oboli starred in the movie Okafor's Law, which premiered on 24 March 2017. However, the movie could not be screened at the premiere due to an injunction by the court. Oboli was accused of copyright infringement by Jude Idada, who claimed to have written part of the script for Okafor's Law. The movie was released on 31 March 2017.
Charity
Omoni Oboli set up a charity organization, "The Omoni Oboli Foundation" to use her celebrity status to bring well-needed relief to the plight of the less privileged women and children of Nigerian society. The foundation has been able to embark on several projects which include the following:
- The feeding of street children in Lagos.
- Feeding and giving over two hundred poor and disadvantaged children at Delta Steel Complex, Aladja, a fun day with practical gifts.
- Broadening the mindset of the less privileged children by taking the children of Ecole Divine Nursery Primary and Secondary School to a milk factory to see how it is made and packaged.
