Omoni Oboli

Omoni Oboli (born 22 April 1978) Omoni Oboli is a Nigerian actress, scriptwriter, director and producer. She is a trained digital filmmaker at the New York Film Academy. She is a gifted Writer, with several intriguing screenplays to her credit: including 'Fatal Imagination', 'Being Mrs Elliott', 'The First Lady' and 'Wives on Strike'. 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, Omoni 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 also shown, with her movies, 'Being Mrs Elliott', 'The First Lady', ‘Wives on Strike’, and most recently 'Okafor's Law' her talent behind the camera as the Director.

Oboli was born in Benin City in Edo State, Nigeria. She is a descent of Mosogar in Delta State. Omoni Oboli studied Foreign Languages (majoring in French) at the University of Benin graduating with honours (2nd Class Upper division).

Omoni began her formal 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 but interesting and fulfilling career in 1996, Omoni left the movie industry to complete her university education. She got married immediately after school and didn’t return to the industry till a decade later.

Since her return to the industry, Omoni has fast risen to the top, playing a number of lead and supporting roles in major movies. She brings – dignity, poise, class, smooth delivery, and extreme professionalism to the varied roles she’s played. She is a gifted screenwriter, with several intriguing screenplays to her credit. These including the current blockbuster movie, 'Wives On Strike'. In June 2007, The Rivals, a movie she co-produced with her friend, won the coveted 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 shot into prominence as the class act of Nollywood because of her professional demeanor and strong work ethics. Playing lead roles in wave making, blockbuster movies like ‘The Figurine,’ ‘Anchor Baby’, ‘Being Mrs Elliott’, and the soon to be released movies, ‘Feathered Dreams,’ and Mo Abudu’s ‘Fifty’ has set her apart as one who knows how to choose good screenplays. She has also set the bar higher by being the first actress from Nollywood to bag such international awards as Best Actress in two international festivals in the same year (2010) that are not organized by Nigerians or Africans. This she did at the Harlem international film festival and the Los Angeles Movie Awards for her lead role in the movie, ‘Anchor Baby’.

Owing to her passion to make a change, Omoni Oboli has set up a charity organisation, Omoni Oboli Foundation, www.omoniobolifoundation.com, to use her celebrity status to bring well needed relief to the plight of the less privileged women and children in the society. The foundation has been able to embark on several projects. These include:

• The feeding of street children in Lagos and giving them a fun filled day with gifts
• 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.

This is just to mention a few, with plans to do much more, as their needs are endless.