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Nollywood stars: How they make their millions and what they spend it on (2): Iyabo Ojo

Her full names are Alice Iyabo Ojo but simply addressed as Iyabo Ojo.  She is arguably one of the actresses reputed for hit movies in the Yoruba genre.

Iyabo Ojo
Iyabo Ojo

Born on December 21, 1977 into the Ogunro family in Obanikoro area of Lagos, Iyabo hails from Ilaro, Ogun State.  She is the only girl and the last born of the family.  She attended Grace Children Nursery and Primary School, Gbagada, Lagos; National College, Yaba, Lagos.  She later proceeded to Lagos State Polytechnic, where she studied Estate Management.

Iyabo started her acting career in 1998, via the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) with the help of a senior colleague, Bimbo Akintola who later introduced her to Keppy Ekpeyong. Her first role was in a movie, Satanic, directed by Mr. Mathias.  However, she took a break from acting when she got married in 1999.  The marriage was blessed with two lovely children, Priscilla and Festus, before the boat of her union with her estranged hubby capsized.  She was also a member of Black Image, an African dance drama stage group in 2001, that same year she joined the Association of Nigeria Theatre Art Practitioners (ANTP) under the famous Odunfa caucus.

She has featured in over 150 movies and has produced over 14 hit movies of hers, including Botife (her first movie), Bofe Boko, Ololufe, Ana is ana, Agogo Ide, Ero mi, Iyan Ogun Odun, Wole Akudaya, Okunkun Biribiri, Omo Gomina, Arinzo, Tenbeku.  She is also the first female actress from the Yoruba section to produce English movies.  She had produced three of such in quick succession -Silence, Beyond Disability and Black Val.  She is said to have raked in millions of naira from her movies in the last couple of years.  She has also won many awards, including Gold Award for Outstanding Performance (2006), African Film Award UK Best Crossover Actress (2007), Abuja International Film Festival, where her hit movie was awarded Best Feature Film in Nigeria (2011), Botra Award for Excellent Performance on stage (2011), Deluxe Magazine UK for Excellence and Recognition, also 2011, among others.

Iyabo Ojo is the CEO, Fespris Limited, which owns Fespris Productions, Fespris World, Fespris Academy and Fespris Beauty Academy.  She is also the founder and President of Pinkies Foundation.  She is one of the most widely travelled actress in the Yoruba movie genre.

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