While many Nollywood actresses have been in the spotlight for a large part of their lives, there’s a long list forming of those who have disappeared from the spotlight. Some left acting because they needed a change in career and some for marriage or family reasons.
Some actress have gone from super-stardom to not even making the tabloids.Once in a while we see them here and there on the red carpet at some entertainment industry events.It’s nothing compared to the careers they’ve had in the past. In this piece LEADERSHIP Sunday highlights Some Nollywood actresses who disappeared from the spotlight.
- Victoria Inyama
Lovers of Nollywood movies will not forget in a hurry the pretty face of Victoria Inyama,the actress is arguably one of the pioneers of the Nigerian movie industry,now known as Nollywood.She started her acting career In 1990, and claimed in an interview that actor Alex Usifo first saw her and helped introduce her to the Nigerian film business.Inyama after marrying Godwin Okri, relocated to the United Kingdom and this action was detrimental to her acting career. as she left the entertainment business and focused on her family.She featured in a plethora of movies like,Silent Night Danger Zone,Odum, Love from Above, Eze Nwanyi, Glamour Boys, Iyanga, Barraccuda among others.
- Regina Askia-Williams
Regina Askia-Williams’s acting break came in 1993, when she played gold-digger Tokunbo Johnson in Nigerian soap Fortunes (later Mega Fortunes) on NTA Network, a role which earned her critical acclaim and roles in Nollywood movies. She has received several awards for her performances – including one for “Best Actress in Nigeria” by Afro Hollywood London in 2000 – and has produced several television shows and films.She starred in several “Nollywood” films during the 1990s and early 2000s. She became one of Nigeria’s biggest acting celebrities.She currently lives in America with her family, and is now a family nurse practitioner practicing in New York City.
- Sandra Achums
Sandra Achums made her entrance into the Nigerian movie industry in 1995, with a movie titled Deadly Affair, where she featured alongside other Nollywood veteran actors; Dolly Unachukwu, Jide Kosoko, and Emeka Ike.The movie would eventually become a classic and become her stepping stone into the limelight.She also was on the remake of Glamour Girls.Achums in 2006 relocated from Nigeria to Germany,and currently lives there with her children and her husband.
- Benita Nzeribe
Benita Nzeribe was a screen diva.The actress of many credits, who use to be a top player in Nollywood, has curiously taken a back seat in the scheme of things.Benita Nzeribe has acted in more than 150 Nollywood movies which include Conscience, King of the Town, Cross and Tinapa, The Peace Maker, Agony of a Mother, Fire on the Mountain, Street Life, Games Men Play, The Scorpion, Peace Talk, Beware of Dogs, The Soul of Wickedness, Asunder, etc. She took a break in the Nigerian movie industry (Nollywood) to attend to other personal matters.
- Lilian Bach
Lilian came into the limelight in the 1990s as a model. She also competed in the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant and featured in several television commercials, becoming the face of Delta medicated soap. She commenced her acting career in 1997, starring in several Nollywood movies of the Yoruba and English genres.She acted in several movies like Eletan,
High Blood Pressure,Eja Osan,Angels of Destiny,The Search
Joshua ,Mi ose kogba and several others.
- Barbara Soky
She was among the early divas of Nollywood alongside Omotola Jalade and Genevieve Nnaji. She was very young, hot, savvy and had an aura, which made her the toast of viewers. She hanged around a lot with the rich and famous and was always in the news.She started acting in the 1980s after getting a role in Inside Out and went on to team up with Lola Fani-Kayode in Mirror in the Sun and then much later, Zeb Ejiro’s Ripples.
- Alex Lopez
Nothing has been heard of long-standing and delectable actress Alexandra Lopez a.k.a. Alex Lopez for a while now. She has been off the screen for nearly a decade and fans are curious and want to know the whereabouts of the actress who was once reputed as one of the ‘hottest’ actresses in Nollywood.Alex, whose screen credits include a role in Scavengers, which was actually her debut, Karishika, Echoes, Picaddily, Domitila Part 2, Scouts, Moving Train, Sisters On The Run, Jungle Justice, Never Ever, Supreme Ladies, The Good, the Bad and the Terrible, Full Moon 2, Haunted and Adure.
