TIME Magazine Lists Omotola Amongst 100 Most Influential People In The World

Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, has been named amongst the 100 most influential people in the world, describing the 34 year old as “Africa’s most renowned leading lady.”

The Nigerian actress was named in the 2013 icons segment of the list alongside young Pakistani activist; Malala Yousafzai, US first lady Michelle Obama, Burmese democracy leadey; Aung San Sun Kyi, RnB diva; Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and Italian footballer; Mario Balloteli.

Others in the category are Duchess of Cambridge; Kate Middleton, Chinese tennis champion; Li Na, three times Oscar award winner; Daniel Day-Lewis.

Writing a profile on the actress who recently launched a reality show about her life on M-NET; Richard Corliss, a movie critic, descried Omotola as the “Queen of Nollywood.”

“Called OmoSexy by her fans, she has made 300 or so features, from the 1996 Mortal Inheritance to the 2010 super production Ijé, shot partly on location in Los Angeles. Married to an airline pilot she wed on a flight from Lagos to Benin, Jalade-Ekeinde brings a juggler’s grace to her roles as actress, singer, reality-show star, mother of four and philanthropist (the Omotola Youth Empowerment Programme)” the profile reads.

The movie critic was full admiration of Omotola’s recent claim in an interview that she will never go to Hollywood, writing that “success hasn’t spoiled Africa’s most renowned leading lady. Rather than going Hollywood, Omotola wants to stay Nollywood.”

According to Collins, Nollywood is the world’s most productive English-language film industry is not Hollywood but Nollywood.

“The world’s most productive English-language film industry is not Hollywood but Nollywood. The teeming Nigerian cinema grinds out some 2,500 movies a year, mostly direct-to-DVD quickies mixing melodrama, music and an evangelical Christian spin. (Think Bollywood via Tyler Perry.)”

“Employing a million Nigerians, Nollywood enthralls millions more who come for the thrills, the uplift and the artful agitations of Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde — the Queen of Nollywood.”