It’s one thing to look pretty on camera, but it’s an entirely different ballgame to make us forget you’re a millionaire celebrity while you’re playing a schoolteacher or a city girl. When you say an actor has range, it means they have the ability to embody any character.
We’ve seen acting icons come and go, but only a few inhabit their characters so deeply. From the veterans to the new-gen stars, here are the 10 greatest Nollywood actresses, ranked by their range.
10. Joke Silva
If there’s anyone in Nollywood who deserves the word “legend” attached to their name without question, it’s Joke Silva. Her breakout international role came in 1998 when she starred alongside Colin Firth and Nia Long in The Secret Laughter of Women, a British-Canadian movie that put her on the global map. She won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 2006 for Women’s Cot, a drama about women’s struggles. In 30 Days (2006), a political thriller, she plays a powerful government minister opposite Genevieve Nnaji.
9. Omotola Jalade Ekeinde
Omotola has been one of Nollywood’s biggest stars since the early 2000s, with features in hundreds of movies. But what really sets her apart is that she’s never phoned it in. Every role, no matter how big or small, gets the full Omotola treatment: grounded and magnetic. In Market Seller (2003), she plays a smart, manipulative village girl who’ll go to any lengths to get the man of her dreams. Omotola is full Nollywood royalty in Ijé: The Journey (2010), playing a woman accused of murder. She appears in Alter Ego (2017) as a lawyer and human rights activist, a complex and demanding role that no one else in Nollywood could have pulled off as well. That’s the Omotola effect.
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8. Genevieve Nnaji
If you’re wondering why Genevieve belongs in the top echelon, you either started watching Nollywood yesterday or you’re lying to yourself. This woman has been relevant in Nollywood since her debut. She has moved through every era of Nollywood without ever feeling stuck. She has acted in several roles, from village belle to city girl student to CEO.
She steals the show in Ije: The Journey (2010), where she plays a Nigerian woman in America trying to prove her sister’s innocence in a murder case. In Sharon Stone (2002), she’s a cold, calculating runs girl juggling multiple men. Fast-forward to 2018, she’s directing herself in Lionheart, Netflix’s first Nigerian original, playing a businesswoman fighting to save her father’s company. Several women. Same actress. That’s what we call range, kids.
7. Kate Henshaw
Kate Henshaw has been in this game for over two decades, and she’s still out here giving younger actresses a run for their money. She has played lovers, warriors, mothers, and villains. She has done it with the kind of professionalism and work ethic that makes her one of Nollywood’s most respected veterans.
Stronger Than Pain (2007) is the performance that cemented her legacy and won her the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She shows her comedic side in Chief Daddy (2018), holding her own in a star-studded cast and proving she could do light movies just as well as heavy drama. In A Million Tears, a classic, she takes on a quieter, more introspective role as a woman dealing with love and health issues. Kate Henshaw’s longevity speaks for itself.
6. Chioma Akpotha
Chioma Akpotha is one of the most expressive Nollywood actresses, distinctive for her ability to embody a wide range of characters. Her acting is natural, and no matter how dramatic the role, she always finds a way to keep it grounded and human.
She appears in Dry My Tears (2006), where she plays a second wife who becomes pregnant out of wedlock and tries to turn her husband against the first wife. She’s part of the hilarious ensemble in Wives on Strike (2016), a comedy-drama about women protesting their husbands’ behaviours, and she brings humour to the role. In Gangs of Lagos (2023), she takes on one of her most challenging roles as a grieving mother, delivering a performance so heartbreaking that it earned her critical acclaim.
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5. Sola Sobowale
Her big break came as Toyin Tomato in the wildly popular TV series Super Story. The role made her a household name and turned her into one of Nollywood’s most recognisable faces. She stars in The Wedding Party (2016) as Tinuade Coker, a hilariously overbearing mother of the bride. But it was King of Boys (2018) that cemented her as one of the greatest. She plays Eniola Salami, AKA Oba, a ruthless businesswoman and political kingpin who controls Lagos with an iron fist.
The performance is so commanding and terrifying that she won Best Actress at the 2019 Africa Movie Academy Awards. She reprises the role in King of Boys: The Return of the King (2021), and somehow makes it even better. Sola Sobowale can do comedy, drama and full-blown crime boss without breaking a sweat.
4. Mercy Johnson Okojie
Nobody does emotional devastation quite like Mercy Johnson. When her roles demand somberness, she puts on a character as if her life depended on it. When it comes to comedy and drama, she keeps viewers glued to the screen. In Dumebi the Dirty Girl (2012), she plays a village girl who transforms herself to win over a man, making it funny and sweet.
Then she flips the script in The Maid (2004), playing a manipulative house help who tears a family apart. In Passport (2022), she’s a street babe who stands eye-to-eye with the most intimidating thugs. Her range stretches into versatile roles, and she drags the audience right along with her.
3. Funke Akindele
Funke Akindele is what happens when talent and hustle are in one person. She’s Nollywood’s biggest box office star right now, and it’s because she understands character work better than almost anyone in the industry. Jenifa (2008) is the role that turned her into a household name. She plays a naive village girl who moves to Lagos and tries to become “posh,” and the result is pure comedy gold.
Then she goes on to play twin sisters in Omo Ghetto (2010) — one a street-smart area girl, the other a rich, urban girl — and it’s a hit. In A Tribe Called Judah (2023), a devastating drama, she’s a struggling single mother who had people emotional in cinemas. If you still doubt Funke Akindele has range, you haven’t been paying attention.
2. Kehinde Bankole
Kehinde Bankole is one of the most skilled actresses in Nollywood. Her career-defining performance came in October 1 (2014), a historical thriller about a colonial-era murder investigation. She plays Miss Tawa, a schoolteacher navigating the tensions of 1960s Nigeria, and the performance earned her Best Actress at the 2015 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards.
We also see her in Blood Sisters (2022), Netflix’s crime thriller series, where she plays Sarah, a woman caught in a web of violence and family secrets. In Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (2024), she takes on the role of the legendary Nigerian activist in a biopic that demands she embody both strength and vulnerability. Kehinde’s range is unparalleled.
1. Nse Ikpe-Etim
Every role she takes on feels like a deliberate choice, and every performance she gives feels like she’s operating on a completely different level from everyone else. In Mr. and Mrs. (2012), she plays a woman trapped in a loveless marriage with a quiet devastation that stays with the viewers for a long time. In The Visit (2015), she’s a modern woman with secrets. In King of Boys (2018), she plays Jumoke Randle, a scheming political operative whose ambition and ruthlessness make her one of the most compelling villains in the movie.
