Talk of the A-list actresses in Nollywood, and you wouldn’t have made plenty of sense without mentioning this exceptional Nigerian actress, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde.
Omotola, also popularly known as Omosexy, was born on the 7th day of February 1978 in Lagos, Nigeria to the family of Mr Oluwashola and Mrs Oluwatoyin Jalade, both from Ondo State, Nigeria.
She started her elementary education at Chrisland School, Opebi, Lagos and continued in Oxford Children School. She also attended Santos Layout and Command Secondary School, Kaduna for her Secondary Education.
For her tertiary education, she attended Yaba College of Technology where she studied Estate Management.
As a young girl, Omotola had hoped to study business management and establish herself professionally in the business world. But alas! Fate had something greater in store for her.
While waiting to gain admission into the university, Omotola decided to try her hands on modeling to beat idleness and also to earn a living. It was during this period that she accidentally found acting (or should we say acting found her?). he accompanied one of her friends to a movie audition, and she decided to audition for the movie. The director, Reginald Ebere, was quite impressed with her performance that he had no problems giving her the lead role in the movie, Mortal Inheritance.
Mortal Inheritance was a huge success and was tagged as one of the greatest Nigerian movies of all time. From her 1995 debut in Mortal Inheritance until now, Omotola has acted in dozens of Nigerian movies among which are Blood Sisters, Last Flight to Abuja, All of My Life, Games Women Play, Lost Kindgdom 2, and The Woman in Me.
Omotola is such a versatile actress that she is quite popular and successful in the English and Yoruba sectors of the Nigerian Film Industry, Nollywood.
Omotola Jalade Ekeinde has earned several awards and recognitions nationally and internationally. For her exceptional performance in her first movie, she won The 1997 THEMA Awards for Best Overall Actress and Best Actress in an English Speaking Movie respectively. Some of her other awards include 2004 City People Awards for Excellence (Best Actress), 2004 Global Excellence Recognition Awards (Best Actress and Grand Achiever Awards), 2004 Civil Enlightenment Organization of Nigeria(CEON), 2005 Africa Movie Academy Awards(AMAA) (Best Actress in a Supporting Role), 2006 Youth Benefactor’s Award (Most Friendly Actress), 2012 Eloy Awards (Actress of the year), 2012 Black Entertainment Film Fashion Television and Arts Awards(BEFTA) (Film Actress Icon), and the 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards (Personality of the year nominee).
Omotola has also been honored on several national and international platforms. In 2013, she was honored at the Movie and Screen Awards (MVISA) in Birmingham. She was also honored with a column in OK! Nigeria Magazine and a chieftaincy title in her hometown of Ondo State by the King, Oba Victor Kiladejo.
Omotola is not only a good actress but an excellent songstress as well. She has two albums, Gba and Me, myself and Eyes to her name as well as several features with other Nigerian musicians.
She has also recorded songs with famous international starts like Grammy Award winning producer, Kendrick Dean, Verse Simmonds, Bobby Valentino and Drumma Boy.
Omotola is Brand Ambassador for various popular Nigerian brands, as her own reality show, The Real Me, airing on Africa Magic Entertainment and is deeply involved in several Philanthropic and Human Rights Activities.
Kudos to Omotola jalade ekeinde the actress.