Four Nollywood veterans; Liz Benson-Ameye, Adebayo Salami, Nobert Young and Kasimu Yero will be given special recognition awards for their immense achievement in the Nigerian Movie Industry christened Nollywood. The awards will be conferred on them by the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi at the 6th edition of the Best of Nollywood Awards which comes up on October 4th 2014 at Rivers State.
Speaking on the choice of the four seasoned thespians, BON awards Executive Producer, Seun Oloketuyi stated that revealed that “after much deliberation and research, these four came as the best choices for this award category because of their outstanding impacts in Nollywood and for being a source of inspiration to youths in Nigeria and Africa generally.”
RECIPIENTS
ELIZABETH BENSON
Elizabeth Benson, popularly known as Liz Benson, began acting when she was five years old. She is loved by most movie watchers in Nigeria and is seen as one of the first ladies of Nollywood. Her journey to stardom began when she appeared on the set of the popular television soap opera, Fortunes in 1993. Liz Benson played the part of Mrs. Agnes Johnson in the soap, which ran for about two years on the Nigerian Television Authority network. In 1994, her role in Glamour Girls, a very successful home video film that focused on the theme of prostitution, literally changed her fortune after Fortunes.
The movie shot her into prominence and gradually she warmed her way into the minds of millions of Nigerian movie fans. Sometime ago, she quit acting, became a born-again Christian and started preaching the gospel. Some of her roles include her role as Titubi in Femi Osofisan’s Morountodun and as Mrs. Agnes Johnson in Fortunes, a soap opera that ran for about two years on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel 10. She acted in a number of Nollywood video-films such as Evil Men 1 and 2, Shame, Conspiracy, Izaga, Burden, Stolen Child, Faces, Dead End, Tycoon, Glamour Girls, Body of Vengeance and a horde of other movies.
KASIMU YERO
Veteran actor Kasimu Yero is fondly remembered for his role as ‘Uncle Gaga’ in the now rested ’80s situational comedy, Cock Crow At Dawn, and as one of the lead characters in Abubakar Imam’s Magana Jari Ce. Today, he is older, more rested and taking things easy, but back in the days, he was one of the actors who dominated the region and entertained the populace with his ability to interpret humorous scripts.
Yero was born in Zaria some 64 or 65 years ago. But when he became of school-age, he was taken from Zaria City to his grandfather in Kaduna. At that time, his grandfather Mallam Mohammed Sambo, was the Magajin Gari of Kaduna. It was while the young Yero was with him that he had the opportunity of going to primary school. Ironically, his school was located somewhere around where the present-day Fire Brigade headquarters is in Kaduna Nobert Young
NOBERT YOUNG
NOBERT YOUNG
Crossover actor par excellence, and star of countless DStv-sponsored productions including, Edge of Paradise; Norbert Young, trained in both the University of Ibadan and University of Benin. He is regarded as one of the best-trained movie role interpreters in Nollywood. Long before the advent of home video, the Warri, Delta State-born thespian, has always been a delight to watch on screen.
Many television viewers, especially those who followed rested soap opera, Checkmate, would readily recall his face as the randy lecturer, Professor Okon. Norbert Young was part of the detective drama series, Third Eye, which ran in the 1980s and today regarded as one of the versatile veteran actors who has contributed immensely to the growth of Nollywood.
ADEBAYO SALAMI
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Adebayo Salami, a.k.a Oga Bello, has been on stage for 49 years. Not once has he given retirement a thought, he started acting with Young Stars Concert Party in 1964 when he was 12 years old. The group metamorphosed to Ojo Ladipo Theatre. So far,he has produced about 17 films. The first movie he produced was Ogun Ajaiye under the stables of Awada Kerikeri in 1985. In 1987, I produced Omo Orukan and in 1989, Eri Okan and all of these were on celluloid.
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