AMAA Throws Up Fresh Continental Acting Queens

BY reason of the mention they received at the Africa Movie academy Awards (AMAA) nominations gala night which held last weekend in Los Angeles, United States these sterling actresses- Ini Edo, Jocelyn Dumas, Lesliana Pereira, Queen Nwokoye, and Aida Wang have been admitted into the unofficial class of the continents leading actresses or acting first ladies if you like. Ini Edo was nominated for her engaging performance in Desmond Elliot’s ‘While You Slept’ while the gorgeous Ghanaian actress Jocelyn Dumas was nominated for her believable performance in Juliet Asante’s ‘Silver Rain’.

Queen Nwokoye earned her first AMAA award nomination for her beautiful run in Chetenna while Angola beauty Leslina Pereira and Burkinabe leading actress Aida Wang were nominated for their smooth run in ‘Njinga: Queen of Angola’ and ‘Juliet and Romeo’. These leading African screen celebrities will be competing for honours at the AMAA, a continental award scheme that is now roundly considered as the global film award for black people. But who amongst them will emerge the continental screen-acting first lady when the Africa’s global award holds in Johannesburg on September 26, 2015?

Lesliana Pereira – NJINGA: Queen Of Angola
Lesliana Pereira was nominated for her dashing role as Queen Nzinga, the historic queen of Angola who battled against the Portuguese colonialists in the Angolan movie ‘Njinga: Queen of Angola’. Pereira would have impressed the international jury of the AMAA to earn a place on the prestigious nomination slate of the AMAA. Born in the 80’s, the Angolan beauty represented Angola in the Miss Universe pageant in 2008. Her role in Njinga is her first major outing on screen. She followed it up with an appearance in ‘I Love Paraisopolis’ released this year. Lesliana needs the AMAA crest to announce her emergence on the continental acting turf.

Jocelyn Dumas –Silver Rain
Gorgeous Ghanaian star Jocelyn Dumas is in nomination for the AMAA crest. The actress, show host and television personality earned the role for her believable performance in Juliet Asante’s well-helmed movie ‘Silver Rain’. Beautiful and blessed with a bodacious curves and an iconic hourglass figure, Dumas was born in Ghana and spent her early childhood in Accra, Ghana. She has her early education in Ghana but earned a degree in Administrative Law in the United States. She returned to Ghana after a brief stint as a Paralegal practitioner to follow her dreams of becoming a television personality and an actress.

Dumas made her debut on television, as the host of ‘Rhythmz’, an entertainment show produced by charter House. She later hosted The One Show and she is currently the host for a new TV talk show @ Home with Jocelyn Dumas, which is aired across Africa and Europe. Dumas first break as an actress was in Shirley Frimpong-Manso’s movies series ‘Adams Apple’. She has since gone on to feature in so many critically acclaimed productions including ‘Love or Something Like That’, ‘A Sting in a Tale’, ‘Lekki Wives’ and ‘A Northern Affair’. Dumas who for two years—2008 to 2010 co-produced Miss Malaika Ghana is the founder and CEO of Virgo Sun Company Limited, a production entity which under her directorship, has already co-produced its first movie Love or Something Like that. Dumas need this AMAA winning to confirm her rating as one of the continents leading actresses.

Queen Nwokoye – Chetenna
Popular Nollywood actress Queen Nwokoye is in nomination in the leading actress category of the 2015 AMAA. A busy actress and easily one of the most sought after actress in Nollywood, Queen must have impressed the AMAA jury to be able to earn this prestigious nomination. The humble, quiet and unassuming actress needs the AMAA nod to confirm her rating on the turf. An actress of vast credit and extraordinary beauty who has had more than a steady run in the movie since she joined the industry in 2004, Queen has continued to reign over the Nigerian home video scene and has outlasted a few of her peers in terms of sustained relevance at the apex, not only because of her grace, beauty, artistic carriage and devotion to the job, but because the Anambra State born actress is simply a naturally talented actress. Generally viewed as a gem that has remained unshaken and unbeatable, Queen star of hit flicks like ‘Speak the Word’, ‘His Majesty’, ‘Show me Heaven’, ‘My Everlasting Love’ and ‘Chetenna’ has managed to stay off scandals since she joined Nollywood which is by no means an easy feat.

Ini Edo – While You Slept
Popular actress Ini Edo earns her first AMAA nomination in the leading actress category. Ini showed stuff as the leading actress in Desmond Elliot’s ‘While You Slept’. Those who have seen the film say the Akwa Ibom native exhibited professionalism that has so far made her cut a swath among the industry’s recognizable faces. Indeed the English and Literary studies graduate is today ranked amongst the preferred and most sought after actresses in Nollywood. Most industry analyst are wont to agree that she has somewhat become a household name, a role model for young aspiring actresses and the toast of most movie producers featuring in nearly all the movies that have been pushed into moviedom in recent time.

Humble, jovial and unpretentiously friendly, Ini’s rapid rise as a screen actress is not difficult to explain. Contrary to expressed views that hers was an overnight success, Ini, the other single inflammable name that combust the lustful desire of most Nigeria male—the other being Genevieve Nnaji, always loved acting right from when she was a child and exhibited flair for acting and singing in church, in school and at home. An actress whose early acting influences include the acting diva Joke Silva and Liz Benson, since Ini set out, there have been no stopping the now single actress who was a year older in April. Her first movie appearance on her return to the turf in 2003 was a minor in ‘Thick Madam’.

Though her appearance in that movie didn’t particularly make Ini a stunning actress, her efforts there made her emergence noticeable. It positioned her as a fitting compliment to most of the sectors male (lead) actors outside the regular faces. Indeed that outing also confirmed that Ini who can pay any amount to have her favourite food ‘Edikan Ikong’ on the table was ready to be employed by producers who wanted not just a new face but one who could bump easily into roles. A lead actress in so many hit movies, Ini has graced the cover jackets of a number of home video productions. At the last count, Ini has featured in over a hundred home movies with a large number still at various stages of production. Of all her movie appearances, the star of Eyes of the God’, ‘Last Game’, ‘Desperate Billionaire’, ‘and ‘Silent Tears’, picked ‘Unforeseen’, ‘World Apart’, ‘True Story’, ‘Only Love’ and ‘Uyai’, as her most memorable.

Aida Wang – Juliet and Romeo
Popular Burkinabe Aida Wang is in nomination for the leading actress crest. She played the leading role of Juliet in the Burkinabe film ‘Juliet and Romeo’. 
It is her first nomination at the AMAA and her first outside Burkina Faso. A win at the AMAA’s will announc