By Bisola Bello
They may swear allegiance to other countries but the names of the following internationally acclaimed stars are constant reminder that their ancestors’ umbilical cords were buried somewhere in Nigeria.
- Uzo Aduba
Born Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba to Nigerian parents on February 10, 1981, she is famous for her role as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on the Netflix television series Orange Is the New Black. She won the 2014 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series and the 2015 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series.
- David Oyelowo
David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo was born April 1, 1976 to Nigerian parents in Oxford, Oxfordshire. He is an English actor, producer, director and writer. He is married to actress, Jessica Oyelowo, with whom he has four children. He is currently signed on to read the audio book version of The New James Bond movie titled Trigger Mortis.
- Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetelu Umeadi “Chiwetel” Ejiofor is a British actor, director and writer. Famous for his role as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave, the actor was born to Nigerian parents, Arinze and Obiajulu Ejiofor, on July 10, 1977 in London’s forest gate. In 2014, Ejiofor starred in the Nigerian film, Half of a Yellow Sun, alongside Thandie Newton.
- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was born on August 22, 1967 in Islington, London to Nigerian parents. He is an English actor and former fashion model. He is best known for his roles as Lock-Nah in The Mummy Returns, Nykwana Wombosi in The Bourne Identity, Mr. Eko in Lost and Simon Adebisi in Oz. His more recent roles include Malko in the fifth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones. He is fluent in several languages including Yoruba, Italian and Swahili.
- Wale
Born Olubowale Victor Akintimehin on September 21, 1984 to Nigerian parents, rapper Wale is signed to the Maybach Music Group. He is an award winning artiste with awards like 2012 BET Best Collaboration Award and 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards Best Club Banger Award to his merit.
- Dayo Okeniyi
Oladayo Okeniyi was born in Lagos, Nigeria on June 14, 1988. He is popularly known for playing the role of Thresh in The Hunger Games and Danny Dyson in Terminator Genisys. 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.
- Chamillionaire
Hakeem Seriki, born November 28, 1979, is better known by his stage name Chamillionaire. He is an American rapper and entrepreneur from Houston, Texas. He is the CEO of Chamillitary Entertainment. Chamillionaire was born to a Muslim Nigerian father and an African-American Christian mother in Washington DC.
- Taio Cruz
Jacob Taio Cruz best known by his stage name Taio Cruz is a British singer-songwriter, record producer, occasional rapper and entrepreneur. The singer was born in London, to a Nigerian father and a Brazilian mother on April 23, 1985.
- Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo is a British actress born on August 11, 1968 in London to a Nigerian father Henry Okonedo, a government worker and a Jewish mother Joan (née Allman), a Pilate’s teacher. Okonedo began her film career in 1991 in the British coming-of-age drama Young Soul Rebels. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Tatiana Rusesabagina in the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda. The actress was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
- Tinie Tempah
Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu popularly known as Tinie Tempah is an English rapper from South London born on November 7, 1998 to parents from Ibusa, Delta State, Nigeria. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own record and fashion label Disturbing London (DL Records) in 2007 along with his cousin, Dumi Oburota. He has won several awards including the 2011 BET Awards for Best International Act UK and the 2013 MOBO Awards for Best UK Hip Hop/Grime Act.
- Nas
Born Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones on September 14, 1973 to a Nigerian, Olu Dara, and an American mother Frannie Ann (Little), Nas is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer and actor. His father is a jazz and blues musician. Nas has released eight consecutive platinum and multi-platinum albums and has sold over 25 million records worldwide. He is often named as one of the greatest hip-hop artistes. MTV once ranked him at No 5 on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time.
- Sade Adu
Helen Folashade Adu is a British-Nigerian singer, songwriter, composer and record producer born on January 16, 1959. She was born in Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria to Adebisi Adu, a Nigerian lecturer in Economics and Anne Hayes, an English district nurse. Her parents separated and her mother moved to England when Sade was four years old. Sade Adu has received several honours including six Grammy Awards. The Grammys include 1986 Best New Artist Award, 1994 Best R&B Performance by Duo or Group with Vocals and 2002 Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
- Seal
Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel, popular known as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer and songwriter born February 19, 1963. He has sold more than 30 million records worldwide. Seal has won several awards including Brit Awards Best British Male Award in 1992. He received the British Academy’s Ivor Novella Award, for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for ‘Killer’ in 1990 and ‘Crazy’ in 1991. ‘Kiss from a Rose’ from the Batman Forever Soundtrack won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1996, becoming Seal’s best performing single on the US market (it topped the Billboard Hot 100 in late August 1995) and hit number four in the UK
- Jidenna
Jidenna Theodore Mobisson was born April 5, 1985 in Wisconsin to an American mother, Tama Mobisson, an accountant, and a Nigerian father, Oliver Mobisson, a professor of computer science at Enugu State University. In 1995, the family moved from Nigeria to the United States. Jidenna’s name in the Igbo language means to “embrace the father”. He is signed to Wondaland Records and in 2015 released his single ‘Classic Man’
- Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey is a Welsh singer that started her career in the mid 1950’s. Born in Tiger Bay, Cardiff to a Nigerian father and English mother on January 8 1937, Shirley Bassey has been called one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century. She is best known for recording the theme songs to James Bond films, Gold Finger (1964), Diamonds are Forever (1971) and Moonraker (1979). In 2000 the singer was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the Performing Arts. In 1977, she received the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artiste in the previous 25 years.
