Showmax spotlights Omoni Oboli: The box office and comeback queen

A comeback is not always easy to achieve, but Omoni Oboli makes it look effortless. 

The mother of three arrived on the Nollywood scene in her second year as a French undergrad in 1996 on Bitter Encounter. After a second minor role on Shame, she went on to play the lead female roles in Not My Will, Destined To Die, and Another Campus Tale. 

Then she left Nollywood to complete her education, get married to Dr Nnamdi Oboli and birth her three children. It was over a decade before she decided to return to Nollywood. She made a comeback in 2009 as part of the cast of Entanglement, but it was her role on Kunle Afolayan’s award-winning Figurine that put her back on the map.

Her brilliant performance on Anchor Baby (2010) also won the Best Actress Award at the Harlem International Film Festival and the Los Angeles Movie Awards.

After her first few appearances, she realised that the industry didn’t have space for her, and she didn’t want to compromise on the type of movies she appeared in. With the help of her team and family, she turned to directing and producing her films. It was finally time to put her New York Film Academy education to good use.

First, she produced and directed Being Mrs Elliot in 2014. Then in 2016, she claimed a permanent spot for herself as a filmmaker by releasing two blockbuster films – Wives On Strike and Okafor’s Law. In 2018 and 2019, she again went back behind the cameras to produce Moms At War, and Love Is War. 

However, the more the 43-year-old produced her films, the more she found scripts that aligned with the original African stories she wanted to be a part of. Since her very well-put-together comeback, she has appeared in more than 20 movies, most of which are blockbuster films. Some of them include The First Lady, Fifty, Wedding Party 2, My Wife and I, Sugar Rush, Oloture, 30 Days In Atlanta, and more.

Omoni Oboli has, with quiet grace and pure determination, proven that women can do just as well behind the camera, a goal she has always wanted to achieve. In fewer than 13 years since her return to the Nollywood scene, she has advocated for Nollywood internationally (through the Toronto International Film Festival – TIFF). She has created jobs through productions, told brilliant African stories through her movies and book (The Stars Are Ageless), and made an impact on the quality of films from the industry through directing.

If there was ever a time to celebrate a woman steadfast in her pride and belief in Nollywood, it’s now!