In the 1990s, numerous Nollywood child actors entertained and brought several roles to life with their talents. Along the line, some of them left the industry for other jobs while others still break through and become notable in recent movies as actors, directors, and producers.
In the 1990s, there were no many child actors as there are today. Yet, it didn’t change the fact that they made their marks and have helped in sustaining the industry which has evolved in many ways.
Meet Some of the Popular Nollywood Child Actors of the 1990s
7. Genevieve Nnaji
Many people got to know about Genevieve Nnaji’s career in Nollywood when she reached adulthood. Well, this great and beautiful actress started her career as a child actor when she was 8 years old when she featured in Ripples.
Also a child, she appeared in several other TV commercials before she took a break and later returned.
She then became famous for her roles in Blood sisters (2003), Power of Love (2002) and 30 Days (2006).
For playing many roles and being one of the most talented Nigerian actors, Genevieve has been nicknamed Nollywood’s Julia Roberts. Currently, the Imo State native has been featured in a Hollywood film called Farming.
She also produces and directs films.
6. Peter Bunor Junior
Peter Bruno Jr, the son of late actor Peter Bruno was born in 1989 and was involved in school stage plays at a young age. By the time he was about the age of 6, he was featured in his first film and quickly became one of the most notable child actors.
He played several roles in Enemies (1998), Narrow Escape (1999), Eye for Eye (1999), Curse from Beyond (1999), and Lost Hope (2000).
He put his acting career the stop after he encountered a lot of people who kept shouting his name. Although it was friendly, it started to make him question if he wanted that life for the rest of his life.
Bruno Jr. had big dreams as a child. He revealed in an interview that he wanted to work with NASA. Well, things didn’t turn out exactly as he wanted when he headed to the University of Abuja to study public administration.
He worked with the government before he became the Co-founder and Growth Lead at Field Intelligence. The company is a pharmaceutical supply chain that is helping the government and businesses gain access to healthcare in numerous places in the world.
5. Williams Uchemba
This actor is one of the few Nollywood actors who started as a kid actor and still has a good place as an actor in the Nigerian movie industry. He was born in 1994 and started acting in 2000 when he was 6.
He played his first role in The Journey of Dead in 2000. In 2002, he won the Best Actor award at the Movie Academy Award for his role in Oh My Son.
He continued with his acting career and featured in films such as Beyond Belief (2003), Egg of Life (2003), and Dorathy My Love (2005). In his earliest acting career, Uchemba shared the same stage with actors such as Omotola Jalade, Emeka Enyiocha, Sam Loco Efe, Eucharia Anunobi, and Funke Akindele.
Although he later took a hiatus, Williams Uchemba made a comeback in the movie industry and appeared in renowned films. Some of them include Merry Men 2 (2019), Sugar Rush (2019), Dear Affy (2020), Quam’s Money (2021), and Merry Men 3: Nemesis (2023).
Apart from acting, he also owns a production company, Prosthesis Entertainment Limited. The company produced the fil1 Mamba’s Diamond in 2021. The film features actors like Gabriel Afolayan, Venita Akpofure, Nse Ikpe-Etim, and Osas Ighodaro.
In his private life, he married Brunella Oscar in November 2020.
4. Samuel Ajibola
As a boy of 6 in 1995, Ajibola started his acting career at Tears of Love. As an actor, Ajibola featured in films such as Without Love, Eye-Witness, Onome II, and Day of Reckoning while he was a child.
He won the award for Best Kid Actor for three consecutive years, making him the first child actor to achieve this.
After gaining fame, Samuel Ajibola took a hiatus from his acting career to complete his secondary education. In 2009, he attended the University of Lagos where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science in 2012.
He subsequently obtained a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo State.
The Day of Reckoning actor is currently an actor, producer, and youth ambassador. He is famed for featuring in The Last Flight to Abuja, The Johnsons (2012), Shuga (2013), and Merry Men: The Real Yoruba Demons (2018).
Away from his career, Ajibola is married to Sandra Ajibola, a medical laboratory scientist and entrepreneur. The couple has a son Prince Erza .A.Jidenna Ajibola.
His family has been involved in a controversy over the paternity of his child. After he shared a picture of himself, his wife, their son, and former Nigeria president Olusegun Obasanjo. An Instagram sensation known as Gossip Bobo came out to claim that Sandra was Obasanjo’s secretary and also, and he also insinuated that Ajibola’s son with his wife could have been fathered by Obasanjo.
On November 17, 2023, Ajibola and his wife filed a lawsuit for defamation of character.
3. Samuel Ajirebi Olasehinde
Samuel is the son of actor Ajirebi Kayode Olasehinde, popularly known as Pa James. The younger Ajirebi started as a child actor in the 1990s. He gained fame when he featured in Oshodi Oke.
He appeared in several other films before he took a break from his career. While on break, he attended Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) where he studied Law.
He was later called to the Nigeria bar. Even at that, Samuel does not practice law. Instead, he returned to the Nigerian movie industry and continues as an actor and a writer.
As an actor, Samuel Ajirebi has appeared in Flatus (2022), Ere Oran (2022), Harmony of Dreams (2022), Mokalik (Mechanic), and Abeni (2006).
As a writer, he is credited for writing Different Strokes (2023) and Imelda (2022).
See Also: 10 Longest Marriages in Nollywood
2. Azeez Ijaduade
In 1992, Azeez got his first movie role. His career bloomed in 1994 when he played Ola in the Yoruba film Jensimi alongside his father Waheed Ijaduade (Olaiya Igwe).
The Moshood Abiola Polytechnic graduate has gone on to feature in other films such as Iru Esin, Okanlomo, Ise Onise, The Ghost & I, The Living Ghost, Osan Ja, and Broken.
In his private life, there are reports that he is a father of two girls.
1. Chelsea Chinenye Oguejiofor
After she featured in Nneka the Pretty Serpent and also became famous for playing Omotola Jalade’s daughter in Blood Sisters, Chinenye Oguejiofor’s career as an actress went down.
While on break, she studied Department of Dental Surgery, at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
While she keeps a private life at the time of this report, there are reports that she intends to return to the movie industry.
