If you grew up in the 1999s/2000s, congratulations. You experienced the golden age of Nollywood. This era not only brought us humour and authentically Nigerian storytelling, it also gave us iconic characters who served lewks and were fine as hell. These characters were so hot, fly, and sexy, that they had some of us crushing HARD. Characters like:
1. Sharon (Genevieve Nnaji) in Sharon Stone
The OG herself. Sharon excelled in what is usually a male-dominated field by juggling not one, not two, but three men simultaneously with nothing but finesse and lies, and somehow made it look like the most natural thing in the world. We all wanted Sharon or wanted to be her, which are pretty much the same thing.
2. Rachel (Ini Edo) in Corrupt Girls
The movie tried to position Rachel as a cautionary tale about what happens when a girl engages in promiscuous hijinks but all we see was a sexy, bad girl who knew exactly what she wanted out of life and wasn’t afraid to go get it by any means necessary (fraudulently extracting money from high profile men). If that kind of girl doesn’t wake the dead butterflies in your belly, you need help.
3. Karishika (Becky Okorie) in Karishika
Yes, she came fresh from hell to steal, kill, and destroy. But you can’t deny that when she walked out of that graveyard at the beginning of the movie in a tie & dye shirt, baggy pants, and middle-part bussdown down to her ass, you didn’t feel something stir inside of you. Don’t be shy. There’s only a few hundred thousand of us here. It’s a safe space.
4. Monique (Regina Askia) in Suicide Mission
From the second Monique sets her eyes on Austine (RMD), Monique knows she wants him to destroy her honey pot with his weapon of love. She immediately does everything she can (having sex with a corpse and eventually trapping his soul in a groundnut bottle) to get him and she succeeds. Beautiful AND a go-getter? How could you not crush on her??
5. Beyonce (Nadia Buari) in The Beyonce Cinematic Multiverse
Beyonce might’ve been spoiled, petulant, and straight up insane, but that’s clearly only because she’s a passionate girl who loves too hard and will do anything for the people she cares about. Don’t let the fact that she stole Rihanna’s car because of man (Beyonce & Rihanna) and poured acid in Ciara’s face because of another man (Beyonce: The President’s Daughter) distract you from how fine she is.
6. Pamela (Mercy Johnson) in White Hunters
Pamela’s most attractive trait is her confidence. Yes, her ex-fiancé served her breakfast and she does embarrassing things in her quest to bag white men. But, she’s happening babe and you can’t tell her otherwise because she knows it’s a fact. That kind of confidence is sexy as hell, and that’s why we all loved her.
7. Jennifer and Sophia (Clarion Chukwura and Eucharia Anunobi) in Abuja Connection
We could say something about the appeal of women in power and that would be true for these characters but Jennifer and Sophia are way more than that. That scene where they jam each other on the road and start shading the hell out of each other is super delicious and awakened something in many people.
8. Gloria (Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde) in Blood Sisters
Many of you refer to Gloria as naive because she should’ve seen Esther’s deception coming, but that’s exactly why we love her. She’s sweet, trusting, and innocent, and we need more of her in this rotten, disgusting world.
9. Alicia (Rita Dominic) in Girls Cot
We can’t talk about the iconic Girls Cot without mentioning Alicia. The movie depicts the lives of four Nigerian women who live a facetious life, deceiving men and blackmailing them for a living. Alicia’s edgy aura made her impossible not to gush over.
10. Gina (Tonto Dikeh) in Dream Maker
Okay, we loved this character out of sympathy. Gina, played by Tonto Dikeh, was the wife who was married to an abusive Charles (Jim Iyke), who was also cheating. Her outfits in every scene looked perfectly planned. Even when she almost broke a bottle on his side chic’s head, she was still serving looks.
