Kenneth Obinna Okolie listen (born February 21, 1984) is a Nigerian actor, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Mr Nigeria 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

(1984-02-21) 21 February 1984 (age 40)
Anambra, Nigeria
Alma materValley View University[1][2]
Occupations
  • Actor
  • Model
Years active2006-Present
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[3]
SpouseNwaka Jessica (m. 2017)
Children1

Early life and education

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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

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Okolie before his debut into the Nigerian movie industry began as a model[10] in 2006, something 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. He was compelled to audition by those conducting the audition of which he accepted. 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

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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

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Okolie married Nwaka Jessica in 2017 and in 2019 gave birth to their first child.[17][18][19]

2012 Kidnap case

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In 2012, Okolie travelled to Owerri which is the capital of Imo state to shoot a movie alongside Nollywood colleague; Nkiru Sylvanus. It was reported that on December 15 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. The amount eventually paid in exchange for their release was never reported by the Nigerian media.[22][23][24][25]

Selected filmography

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Movies
Year Movie Title Character
2011 Aina Bako
2013 Keeping My Man Lanre
2015 House Husband Chude
(2015)[26] Gbomo Gbomo Express Jealous Guy
2016 25th Birthday Melvin
Trouble Comes To Town Benny
A Girl’s Note Ken
2017 Evol Kamari
Strangers Reginald
Mystified Teddy
Stormy Hearts Johnson
Next Door
The Royal Hibiscus Hotel Deji[27][28]
2016 My Name is Kadi Tyler[29]
2019 Different Worlds Ike
Molly’s Love Story Tony
Black Coffee Francis Adu
2019 Alter Date
2019 Reaction Desmond
2019 Snap Jerry
2019 Mr & Mrs ABAKOBA Ifeanyi
2019 Drifted( When a soldier loves) Ola
Just a wish Dave
2019 A Friendly Fire Daniel
2019 Royal Tussle Umenna
This is not a love story Kolawolé
2019 Borrowed Heart
2018 Dear Ijeoma Nicolas
2018 Hit and Run
2018 A toast to a heart break Michael
2018 Tripod
A long walk to nothing
2018 3 some Mark
2016 Reconciliation
My Silence
2017 Stranger than ever
2016 No strings attached Peter
Wedlock
Bride with Gun
Lunch Times Heroes
2016 Espionage
2016 Kazbar
2017 Date Night Henry
A haunted Marriage
Open Scars
2017 Ruth
2016 One Bite
2015 The Sassy One Scott
Promises are forever Dan
2015 Deluded
Love isn't enough
2020 The Cleansers
2020 Stroke of luck
2019 The Tea Room
2020 A Tiny Line
2019 Olive
2019 Izunna
2019 Rising Above Chidi
Oath of silence
2019 Heart Ripper
2018 Love and Shadow Izunga
2018 Strength of love
2018 Imperfect Me
Crumbles cookies
2010 Fatal Attraction Ade
2019 The right kind of wrong
2019 Jumbled Damilola
2019 Mothers and daughters in law Kunle
2019 Don't get mad Get Even Julius
Mr Black
RIFT
Lovers or Loosers (LOL)
Ignition
Chances
Ufuoma
True vows
2015 The department Moses
Rubbles of love
Just 2 hours
2016 A Girl's Note Ken
Alera's Diary
PayBack
2020 Nneka the Pretty Serpent Tony Okechukwu

TV series

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TV-Series
Year TV Series Title Character Seasons
2013 Desperate House Girls 1-2
2015 Husbands of Lagos Akinlolu 1-2-3
2018 Ojukwu Odili 1-2
Poison Ivy
The Suncity Chris 1
Singles Ladies
Before 30
2016 Skinny Girl in Transit Femi

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Result Ref
2019 Best of Nollywood Awards Best Kiss in a Movie Nominated [30]

References

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  1. ^ Okwara, Vanessa (2018-12-09). "Kenneth Okolie: Good-looking dude". Newtelegraph. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  2. ^ "Kenneth Okolie - iBAKATV | Home for Nollywood Movies". ibakatv.com. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  3. ^ "Former Mr. Nigeria And Actor Kenneth Okolie; All You Need To Know About Him". 246hits.com. 2019-04-20. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ "Finalists square up for Mr Nigeria 2018". guardian.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  6. ^ "Marriage cannot change my hot body – Former Mr. Nigeria, Kenneth Okolie". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Olayinka (2018-02-23). "Everything You Need To Know About Former Mr. Nigeria And Actor Kenneth Okolie". Information Nigeria. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ "Kenneth Okolie – Silverbird Mr Nigeria". www.mrnigeriasilverbird.com. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  11. ^ Adeniran, Raphel (2019-03-23). "Nollywood Celebrities Who Rose To Fame From Reality Shows". Eelive. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  12. ^ "It's not true I shun low-budget movies – Kenneth Okolie". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  13. ^ "I still have a crush on Ufuoma Ejenobor – Kenneth Okolie". Vanguard News. 2015-03-14. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  14. ^ Ugonna, Chinenye (2014-10-26). "Dating actresses bad for business– Kenneth Okolie - Premium Times Nigeria". Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  15. ^ Ochuwa, Akashat (2017-10-09). "List Of Winners At The 2017 City People Movie Awards". Concise News. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  16. ^ Aghahowa, Isoken (2019-10-31). "Nollywood Alive Actor Of The Week - Kenneth Okolie". Nollywood Alive. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ Bodunrin, Sola (2017-04-16). "Ladies! THIS former Mr Nigeria is off the market (photos)". www.legit.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  19. ^ allure1 (2017-01-11). "Former Mr Nigeria, Kenneth Okolie gets engaged for the second time (Photos)". Vanguard Allure. Retrieved 2019-12-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ Inyang, Ifreke (2012-12-18). "Revealed: Former Mr. Nigeria, Kenneth Okolie was kidnapped with Nkiru Sylvanus". Daily Post Nigeria. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  21. ^ says, Lilian (2012-12-21). "Kidnappers release Nkiru Sylvanus and Kenneth Okolie". Nigerian Entertainment Today. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  22. ^ "Nkiru Sylvanus and Kenneth Okolie Released By Kidnappers ⋆". www.herald.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  23. ^ "Kenneth Okolie and Nkiru Sylvanus Regain Freedom".
  24. ^ "News Flash: Nkiru Sylvanus, Kenneth Okolie Regain Freedom". www.thenigerianvoice.com. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  25. ^ "Nkiru Sylvanus, Kenneth Okolie released!". Vanguard News. 2012-12-21. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  26. ^ "'Gbomo Gbomo Express' Movie featuring Ramsey Nouah, Gideon Okeke, Osas Ighodaro gets release date". www.pulse.ng. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  27. ^ ""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.
  28. ^ "Zainab Balogun, Kenneth Okolie star in 'Royal Hibiscus Hotel' movie » Entertainment » Tribune Online". Tribune Online. 2017-08-19. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  29. ^ sunnews (2016-12-10). "Aisha Mohammed premieres My Name is Kadi". The Sun Nigeria. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  30. ^ Bada, Gbenga (2019-12-15). "BON Awards 2019: 'Gold Statue', Gabriel Afolayan win big at 11th edition". Pulse Nigeria. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
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