EXCLUSIVE! WHY YORUBA PRODUCERS NO LONGER USE FUNKE AKINDELE

Before now, Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele was number 1 and most featured face marketers go for before agreeing on marketing a film for a producer. Funke does not really need to play a lead role, as long as her face is visible on the jacket of the flick, ultimately the movie will go places. She has carved that niche for herself and displaced many of her contemporaries.

She became highest paid actress when she produced her multiple award winning movie titled, Jenifa which as today earned her fame and wealth. Shortly after the movie was released, Funke became a brand to reckon with not only in the movie industry but in all walks of life.

She became a brand ambassador to several multinational companies in Nigeria including Vitafoam, Unilever, Jobberman.com, Qlichy.com, Lagos Inland Revenue service and many more. Don’t let us forget in a haste that Akindele served as one of the longest artiste to be endorsed by telecommunication giant, Globacom as the brand ambassador.

After a while, the screen goddess geared up her game as she moved to Asaba/Enugu to be featuring in English speaking movie. Subsequently, the price of Funke Akindele to take part in one production kept rising day by day and subsequently became unaffordable. And for this reason, the producers choose another actress to replace her.

Having got this, City People went into further investigation on why her face is no longer regular and the amount she charges to feature in Yoruba movies, we gathered that the Omo Ghetto star, does not collect less than 400,000 naira no matter who is demanding for her services.

And for the fact that they couldn’t afford her bill due to the piracy seriously battling the industry, the producers stopped featuring her until recently, when she featured in a movie called Eliza produced by one of the daughters of late Chief Mrs Adunni Bankole, and Funke was reported to have made up her mind to return to Yoruba movies.

But before then, she played a lead role alongside Femi Adebayo in a yet to be released movie titled ‘’Iyawo Mi’’ (My Wife) produced by her friend, Bimbo Success. In case you don’t know, Akindele Olufunke popularly known as Jenifa was born in august 24, 1976 in Ikorodu, Lagos state. She is a Nigerian actress.

In 2009 she won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a leading role. Akindele worked in television before switching to cinema, becoming known for her starring role in the family-oriented Nigerian television show named ‘I Need to Know’’. Akindele’s qualification includes OND in Mass Communication from Ogun State Polytechnic and a law degree from the University of Lagos.

In 2015, Funke Akindele starred in Tchidi Chikere’s ‘’Compound Fool’’. The movie also stars other A-list Nollywod actors and actresses like Yul Edochie, Kenneth Okonkwo, Queen Nwokoye, Moyo Lawal, Zubby Micheals and a host of others.

Funke Akindele in one of her previous interviews disclosed that studying law at the university was to please her father, who wanted her to be a lawyer. The talented act said she has always had passion for entertainment.

She stated that even though she does not have the intention to practice what she studied in school, but she enjoys it, adding that law is interesting and beautiful, which she reflects in her stories in movies. Akindele, who started her acting career in the English speaking sector of the Nigerian film industry, which many regard as the core Nollywood, stated that she did not get the needed fame from the area and got frustrated.

According to her, she left for the Yoruba speaking aspect of Nollywood because she felt that there was no place for her in the core Nollywood. The actress got a big break in the movie industry after she released her self-produced flick,’Jenifa’, and is now back in the English speaking area of the film industry in Nigeria

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