If there’s one major thing Nollywood gets right, it’s crying in movie scenes. And this top 10 list of Nigerian actresses who are professional wailers proves it.

10. Ini Edo

Ini Edo cries like a child that has just been beaten and left to cry. Growing up and watching her, I always wondered if she got post-crying headaches. 

9. Rita Edochie

In almost every Rita Edochie movie I’ve seen, she’s always crying as someone’s village wife, bereaved mother or widow. The village really did her dirty.  

8. Queen Nwokoye

Queen’s tears are mostly from heartbreak. My girl is constantly chopping breakfast from both village and city men, and I feel her pain. 

7. Kate Henshaw 

Our dear aunty Kate brings on the waterworks alongside the runny nose. She cries with all the vim in her body. Even when she cries calmly, the cattarh must flow.

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5. Chinwe Owoh

Chinwe Owoh always acts as a village queen, mother, stepmother, widow, or grandma in her movies. And I noticed that in almost every scene where she cries, she’s on the floor — especially when she’s living in the village.

5. Chacha Eke

Chacha is almost always poor in her movies. I can understand why she cries from the depths of her soul. Poverty is a bastard.

4. Mercy Johnson

There’s no role in this life that Mercy Johnson hasn’t played. Whether she’s the maltreated house girl, the village girl wanted by the prince, or an orphan, she knows how to cry like her life depends on it. And her tears? Always super dramatic. I won’t be surprised to find out she cries a lot in real life. 

3. Hilda Dokubo

Hilda Dokubo is the wife that’s always going through it. If she’s not accused of killing her husband, she’s the wife who’s been trying to get pregnant and is being maltreated by the in-laws. When she cries, she actually makes you feel bad for her. Her facial expression even before the tears start flowing will break your heart.

2. Stella Damasus 

Stella Damasus used to cry so well, it felt like real life.  You’d watch her cry in a scene and wouldn’t even know when you started crying with her. Every time I watched her, I was worried she was going through something in real life.

1. Nkiru Sylvanus

Our legendary Nollywood crying queen. Do you know how hard it is to find a movie where Nkiru isn’t in tears for half of it? And she does it all— the shouting, the runny nose, hands on the head, laying down on the floor, etc. With the way she cries, you sef, you’ll be tempted to look for ways you can ease her pain.

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