I want to put up pictures of some famous people who happen to be Nigerian or half Nigerians,  You are free to add yours to it. I will be using Wikipedia as a reference point.


First of is[b] Taio Cruz[/b]
Taio Cruz was born on April 23, 1985 to a Nigerian father and Brazilian mother, and raised in London, England. He attended a school in rural Sussex, and then attended Stanmore college in London. His love for music was evident from his school days and particularly college days, where he began taking his productions and recordings more seriously. Cruz is the founder and C.E.O. of Rokstarr Music London, which in 2006 released his debut single "I Just want to Know". Also in 2006, he signed a joint-venture partnership deal with UMusic Companies, Republic Records and Island Records.[2]

In the UK, Cruz has worked with Omar, Nitin Sawhney, Wookie and Will Young. The song "Your Game", co-written by Taio with Will Young and Blair MacKichan, went multi-platinum and won Best British Single at the Brit Awards.

His album entitled Departure was released in the UK on March 17, 2008. He has so far released 5 singles from the album. Having written, arranged, performed and produced the album himself, he is currently working on new music for Britney Spears, Sugababes, Letoya Luckett, Brandy, Justin Timberlake and The Pussycat Dolls.

Simon Cowell has hired Taio Cruz to write and produce tracks for Leona Lewis and Shayne Ward.[3] Proving how in demand he is, Cruz is currently in Philadelphia working with US producer Jim Beanz, on new music for Britney, Brandy and Justin Timberlake. Taio has also been asked to write for Anastacia’s anticipated next album and to contribute to the Sugababes’ next album.[4]

Taio has also been nominated for MOBO awards and performed She's Like a Star with the sugababes at the 2008 MOBO awards.

Sophie Okonedo

Okonedo was born in London, England, the daughter of Joan, a pilates teacher, and Henry Okonedo, who worked for the government.[1] Her father is Nigerian and her mother, an Ashkenazi Jew, was born in the East End to Yiddish-speaking immigrants from Poland and Russia; Okonedo was raised attending synagogue.[2][1][3][4] Her father left the family when Okonedo was five, and she was subsequently raised in poverty by her single mother.[2][5]


Okonedo trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[6] She has worked in a variety of media including film, television, theatre, and audio drama. She performed in Scream of the Shalka — a webcast based on the BBC television series Doctor Who — as Alison Cheney, a companion of the Doctor. As well as providing the character's voice, Okonedo's likeness was used for the animation of the character. Okonedo also played the part of Ms. Tulip Jones in the movie Stormbreaker (2006) and Nancy in the 2007 television adaptation of Oliver Twist.

She was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress in 2004 for her role in Hotel Rwanda and nominated for a Golden Globe for a Lead Actress in a Miniseries for her work in Tsunami: The Aftermath.

Labi Siffre

Kanye Wests' 'I Wonder' off his Graduation album is a sample of the original by Labi. Heres a link to it: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CbjCcg07n_g


Born the fourth of five children, at Queen Charlotte's Hospital Hammersmith, London to a British (Barbadian / Belgian) mother and a Nigerian father, Siffre was brought up in Bayswater and Hampstead and educated at a Catholic monastery school, St Benedict's School, in Ealing.

Jazz and Blues records provided his musical education: Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and Charlie Mingus among many. Jimmy Reed and Wes Montgomery loomed large as guitar influences; Billie Holiday, Jimmy Reed and Mel Tormé as vocal influences.

Openly gay,[1] Siffre met his partner, Peter Lloyd, in July 1964. Under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, they became legally recognized partners when the Act entered into force in December 2005.[2]

While trying to become a full time musician, Labi worked as a warehouseman in Bethnal Green, a filing clerk at Reuters in Fleet Street and as a minicab driver and delivery man. In the early 60s, in a Jimmy Smith style trio, with Bob Stuckey on Hammond Organ and Woody Martin on drums, Labi, on guitar, played for nine months at Annie's Room, a jazz club fronted by the singer Annie Ross. He then toured as opening act and backing singer for Jackie Edwards, the Jamaican songwriter, soul and reggae star. Labi went on to form another three-piece group called Safari, playing London's Soho clubs. Then, though he didn't play folk songs, his first solo gigs came in Amsterdam at the folk club, Het Kloppertje, and at the then haven of psychedelic hippiedom, The Paradiso. Most of Siffre's thirty year performing career has been as a solo artist.

In 1969, while Labi was working in Amsterdam, friends sent a tape of his songs to the DJ, Dave Cash and music publishers MAM. This led to a contract with Festival Records, and his recording debut in 1970 which was released in the UK on the Pye International division of Pye Records.

He had a "turntable hit" in 1970 with the single "Pretty Little Girl (Make My Day)/Too Late" which despite being heavily played on Radio Luxembourg never made it to the charts.

Six albums were released between 1970 and 1975, and four between 1988 and 1998. In the early 1970s he had UK hits with "It Must Be Love" (No. 14, 1971) (later covered by and a No. 4 hit for Madness, for which Siffre himself appeared in the video); "Crying Laughing Loving Lying" (No. 11, 1972); and "Watch Me" (No. 29, 1972). Both "It Must Be Love" and "Crying Laughing Loving Lying" were released as singles in the U.S. by Bell Records but failed to chart.

During this period Siffre toured Britain and Europe, both headlining and supporting the likes of Ike & Tina Turner, Daliah Lavi, the Hollies, Chicago, The Carpenters and The Supremes. He often appeared on television, including the series "In Concert" and "Sounding Out".

Having broken Europe and the UK he went to the USA in 1975 supporting Olivia Newton John on a tour of the East Coast. He moved to Los Angeles in 1977 and wrote with Tom Shapiro. Around this time Siffre decided to quit the music business as a performer and concentrate on writing. After nine months in California he moved back to the UK when, in 1978 two of his songs, "Solid Love" (performed by Siffre) and "We Got It Bad" (co-written and performed by Bob James) reached the UK finals of the BBC's A Song for Europe.

In December 1979 Siffre released 'One World Song' a duet with Jackie which received heavy rotation on Radio Luxembourg in the final week of that year into 1980. The lyrics of the song reflected a theme which has run throughout much of his songwriting; robust peace and harmony. Siffre had his first U.S. singles success as a songwriter when, in 1983, the cover version of "It Must Be Love" by Madness peaked in the Billboard Magazine chart at #33 . The song had been recorded by Madness in 1981 and had reached the UK Top 5 in December of that year, with Siffre making a cameo appearance in the video for the song.

Siffre came out of self-imposed retirement from music in 1985 when he saw a television film from South Africa showing a white soldier shooting at black children. He wrote "(Something Inside) So Strong" (No. 4, 1987), an anti Apartheid anthem, a song of defiance in the face of oppression and bigotry, a song of personal inner strength and more. The song has remained enduringly popular and is an example of the political and sociological thread running through much of Siffre’s lyrics and poetry since the single “Thank Your Lucky Star” and the album “For the Children” (1973). It won the Ivor Novello Award for "Best Song Musically and Lyrically", and has been used in Amnesty International campaigns, a television advertisement and Alice Walker's film against female genital mutilation: Warrior Marks. His stance on civil and human rights has further enhanced his reputation.

In 1990, collaborating with the South African R&B, jazz-fusion singer-songwriter and guitarist Jonathan Butler, Siffre wrote the lyrics of five of the nine songs on Butler’s album "Heal Our Land".

Searching for expression beyond the "limitations of songwriting" he wrote his first poems in 1984. Three books of his poetry have been published: "Nigger" (1993), "Blood on the Page" (1995) and "Monument" (1997). More appear on his blog, "Labi Siffre - Into The Light". “In one of Labi’s poems "An Audience Request" he writes - 'show us the world / rub our faces in it / show us the hurt / and our place in it' – and that’s exactly what a poet should do” … Benjamin Zephaniah

"On first reading I found many of these poems to appear direct and simple, both in statement and in mode of address, but on looking closer I discovered that they were multi-layered, often challenging their own apparent stereotypes and preconceptions, much as Blake did in his Songs of Innocence and of Experience. It is his sense of being an outsider which enables Siffre to expose and yet understand hypocrisy and prejudice. His poetry is compassionate and often succinct and aphoristic" … PQR (Poetry Quarterly Review). His play, "DeathWrite", staged at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff (1997) was televised the same year by HTV.

Beginning with “Let’s Pretend” on the 1973 album “For the Children” and especially in his poetry, Siffre has been and remains, a determined advocate for secularism.

For rapper Eminem's hit single "My Name Is," hip hop record producer Dr. Dre wanted to use a sample (written by Siffre and including Siffre on electric piano) of his song I Got The for the rhythm track. Siffre objected to what he describes as "lazy writing" (in the sleeve notes of the EMI re-mastered CD of the source album Remember My Song): "Attacking two of the usual scapegoats, women and gays, is lazy writing. If you want to do battle, attack the aggressors not the victims".

Eminem and Dr Dre had to edit their song to get the sample cleared. Labi Siffre's original is available on his 1975 album "Remember My Song" (remastered on EMI CD in 2006) and on the 2006 EMI CD of re-mastered tracks "The Best of Labi Siffre". The song, "I Got The" is often incorrectly referred to as “I Got The Blues”, a title Labi rejected as being "a cliché too far".

Labi released a new album, The Last Songs, on EMI in 2006: "You will not hear better acoustic-guitar work so effortlessly merging blues, jazz and folk-roots genres"[2].

Kanye West's 2007 album "Graduation" holds a song titled "I Wonder" in which he samples Labi Siffre's "My Song" from Siffre's album Crying Laughing Loving Lying.

Siffre's "It Must Be Love" was also used in one of Vodafone's adverts, in late 2007.

Phina Oruche



(born August 31, 1975 in Liverpool, England) is a British actress and former model best known for her performances as Liberty Baker in ITV's Footballers' Wives, for which she won a Screen Nations Award for Favorite TV Star. She has also appeared in The Bill, Nip/Tuck, Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Diagnosis Murder, NYPD Blue, The Forsaken and The Unit.

She appeared in the 6th series of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!.

Phina ran the 2006 and 2005 London Marathons raising £35,000 for the Anthony Nolan Trust.

She represented GAP for five years in the USA, and was featured on the front cover of Mode Magazine on ABC's Ugly Betty. She has also made a cameo appearance in the new series of Little Miss Jocelyn which airs in Britain on BBC2 in January 2008.

A published writer, Oruche contributes to the Liverpool Echo amongst many others she is also in the process of penning her first book . Phina also has a film company called IBO Girl Films, for which she directs, edits and produces digital shorts and videos between TV and Film projects. Her feature "Selah and Brown" will be shot in Liverpool early 2008.

Presently, Oruche is splitting her time between London and Dublin; in Dublin she presents a show three days a week on Ireland Am for TV3 and in London was the "Babe in the Booth" for the week starting April 29th 2008 on the morning discussion programme, The Wright Stuff.

Shirley Bassey

Was born on 8 January 1937 at 182 Bute Street, Tiger Bay, Cardiff, to a Efik Nigerian sailor father and a mother from Yorkshire, who divorced when she was three.[2] She grew up in the working-class dockside district of Tiger Bay as the youngest of seven children. After leaving Moorland School at the age of fifteen, Bassey first found employment packing at a local factory while singing in local pubs and clubs in the evenings and weekends.

She performed the theme songs to the James Bond films Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Moonraker (1979). She is the only singer to have recorded more than one James Bond theme song.[1] Bassey is an international artist who has accumulated 20 silver discs for sales in Britain, Europe and the Middle East; fifty-plus gold discs for international record sales; and countless greatest-hits collections including one gold and two platinum.

Leo 'The Lion' Ihenacho

is solo artist and a singer with The Streets. In 2006, he was a contestant on the second series of Love Island.

He is known by a variety of names including Lee-O and Leo The Lion. As Lee-O he released Young Free And Single, whilst Leo's blog on Myspace uses the name Leo The Lion. In it he mentions that before The Streets he sang and jointly wrote a garage track called "Comin Home" with producer K-Warren 7.

According to most critics Leo Ihenacho's introduction into The Streets added a favourable dimension to the group[who?].

For example, The Telegraph wrote: "The main change was in the build of The Streets' frontline performers. Skinner's previous vocal foil, Kevin Mark Trail, was bespectacled, sensitive-looking and gentle-sounding. Now that he has his own record deal, he's been replaced by Leo Ihenacho, a big-voiced, chest-baring dude who has clearly been working out." Elsewhere The Scotsman praised Leo Ihenacho's crooning of "I’ve got bits of cigarettes all over the place , the ashtray needs emptying/But I wouldn’t have it any other way" on Wouldn’t Have it Any Other Way.

As well as The Streets, Leo Ihenacho's projects include writing and recording with The Darkness, Mitchell Brothers, and Kano[citation needed].

Leo Ihenacho struck up a strong rapport with Bianca Gascoigne on Love Island but he was the surprise choice for eviction early on in the series. Nevertheless ITV brought Leo back to Love Island, after Bianca had been getting friendly with Calum Best. Leo confrontated Bianca, who tried to assure him that she was sincere in her feelings for him.

Kele Okereke (born Kelechukwu Rowland Okereke on 13 October 1981 in Liverpool) is the vocalist and guitarist for English indie rock band Bloc Party.

Okereke was born in Liverpool. His mother was a midwife, and his father a molecular biologist. He grew up in London with his one sister. As a child, he went to school at Ilford County High School, but switched to Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green for sixth form at age 16. He lived in Bethnal Green, where in 1998 he became friends with his new schoolmate at Trinity, Russell Lissack, who would become his band's guitarist. A year later, while studying at King's College London, Okereke met Lissack again at Reading Festival, where the band was officially formed under the title of Union. In 2001, Okereke moved out of his parents' home. He went on to meet Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong who became the band's permanent bass guitarist and drummer, respectively. In 2003, the band changed its name to Bloc Party.

Skepta

Born Joseph Junior Adenuga, Skepta is a British rapper, producer and DJ commonly associated with the North London grime scene. Has proved himself to be one of the smarter and more diligent entrepreneurs in the UK Music industry. He began his career as DJ Off key although he soon took his hand to the production side of music where he received much attention for 'DTI'. That wasn't enough for Skepta as he soon jumped on the microphone along with his brother JME (Jamie Adenuga) and became renowned throughout Greater London for his hit single (he also produced), "Private Caller" which featured many of his Meridian crew from Meridian Walk in Tottenham.

Skepta as a rapper/mc has performed all over the world: New York, Italy, Russia, Israel, Czech Rep, Sweden, Germany, Cyprus, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Amsterdam along with many other countries whilst also making the bill of UK festivals Glastonbury and V. Skepta has achieved all of this without even having an album in the shops. Having already featured on MTV Base ‘About to Blow’, graced the pages of magazines from i-D, One Week to Live to Dummy to RWD to Blues & Soul.

His main target is to make grime music 'mainstream' in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. So far, alongside accomplices like Wiley, Roll Deep, JME, President T, Trim, Frisco, Bossman and Big H, he has helped to increase the levels of 'spitting', and has produced and created grime hits such as “Duppy”, “Stupid”, “R U Dumb”, “Fuckin' Widda Team” and “The Large Way”.

Patricia Ngosi Ebigwei - popularly known as Patti Boulaye - is an entertainer and politician.

Boulaye first came to the United Kingdom, shortly after the Biafran war, when she was sixteen. Although she had hopes of becoming a nun, she auditioned for a musical after seeing an advertisment on a poster, and her career as a West End actress began. She has featured in several television programmes, including The Fosters and Dempsey and Makepeace, and in the early eighties,she had her own series, The Patti Boulaye Show on Channel Four. In her native Nigeria, she was the face of Lux Beauty soap for many years. She has also starred in several West End musicals including Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair. In 2005, her self-penned musical Sun Dance was a critical success.

Boulaye, a Conservative activist, attracted criticism for reportedly saying, "The boys accused of killing Stephen Lawrence, I can assure you, were either National Front or Labour."[1]

In 1999 she successfully sued The Guardian after the paper wrongly quoted her as saying that she supported apartheid. In fact she had spoken of the importance of supporting "the party", i.e. the Conservative Party, but this was misheard by The Guardian's reporter.

Boulaye has two children - Emma and Sebastian - with her husband, Stephen Komlousy; before the couple met, Komlousy had already been married twice. In 1996, her daughter Emma Komlousy represented Nigeria in Miss World after she was crowned Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria.

Ty is the recording name of British hip-hop artist Ben Chijioke. He was born in London, his family having moved from Nigeria to the UK. He is based in Vauxhall.

In the mid 1990s, he was involved in the Ghetto Grammar organisation and it was here that his interest in poetry and rapping piqued. Chijioke began his musical career in a band with Kiss FM DJ Shortee Blitz.

He has since released three albums and worked with the likes of Tony Allen, Terri Walker, Scratch Perverts and Estelle.

He performed on a UK-only remix of Talib Kweli & Hi Tek's "Down for the Count" alongside Blak Twang, and in 2006 recorded "The Idea" alongside De La Soul.

Ty's second album, Upwards was nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2004. His third album, Closer, was released on 16 October 2006. It features collaborations with De La Soul, Speech of Arrested Development, Bahamadia, Zion I and Basement Jaxx vocalist, Vula Malinga and the single of the same name of the album "Closer".

On July 13th 2008, TY performed at the RISE Festival in London.

Martin "Chariots" Offiah MBE (born 29 December 1966 in London, England) is an English former rugby league and, briefly, rugby union footballer of the 1980s, 90s and 2000s.

He is also known as 'Chariots' Offiah after the film 'Chariots of Fire',when playing in Australia he was also known as 'Great Balls' although (contrary to widespread popular belief) the correct pronunciation of his surname is 'Offier' – with the stress on the first syllable.[citation needed]

Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 – 31 March 1797),

also known as Gustavus Vassa, was one of the most prominent people of African heritage involved in the British debate for the abolition of the slave trade. His autobiography depicted the horrors of slavery and helped influence British lawmakers to abolish the slave trade through the Slave Trade Act of 1807. Despite his enslavement as a young man, he purchased his freedom and worked as a seaman, merchant, and explorer in South America, the Caribbean, the Arctic, the American colonies, and the United Kingdom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaudah_Equiano

nice one bro keep it up

Nice research

.

Nice work.Most of them,their name gives them away sha

Re: Labbi Sifre

Why is it most Nigerian celebrities from the UK are mostly gays?

First gay footballer - John Fashanu's brother

First gay Basketballer - Amaechi whatever the f-ck his first name is

Don't let me find out Osi Umenyiora likes it up the butt.

hahahaha N guage. Well i never thought of it that way. I am not really interested in their sex lives, their achievements are more than enough.

I love Sophie . . . . had no clue she was Nigerian tho. . . . . good for her. . . . . . . .

Shirley Bassey and taio cruz are nigerian

Dr. Alban (born Alban Nwapa, August 26, 1957, Enugu, Nigeria)
is a Stockholm, Sweden-based musician and producer with his own record label dr-records.[1] His music can best be described as a Eurodance/hip-hop reggae with a dancehall style.

Dr. Alban has sold over 11 million albums and singles.

More recently, his voice was featured on Sash!'s single "Colour The World". After one year of silence he came back with a new track entitled "Because Of You", followed by "What Do I Do" and a new album, not Euro-dance related. Alban was very satisfied with the new album Prescription. Many hands have been involved in making this new album sound special. There are also guest appearances from Tony Rebell and Anthony B.

Dr. Alban is a cousin of another famous Nigerian musician, Charles "Charlie Boy" Oputa. He is also the uncle of Ricarda Wältken from the German Hip Hip Band Tic Tac Toe.

In 2007 Dr. Alban has released new album Back to basics. It is sold only on the Internet through official website, with exception for Russia where CDs and cassettes were issued.

In 2008, he released a single with a pop star of the 1990s Dan Thorp, entitled "I Love The 90's". Alban proved that he did not forget his fellow artists of the last decade and he mentions in the lyrics some of the best hits of the Euro years: "Rhythm Is a Dancer", "What Is Love", "Scatman", "All That She Wants" and his own "It's My Life".

Wunmi, real name Ibiwunmi Omotayo Olufunke Olaiya, is a singer, dancer and fashion designer.[1] [2] She was born in the United Kingdom, to Nigerian parents, but spent much of her childhood in Lagos, Nigeria.[2]

She worked with the band Soul II Soul, notably appearing as a dancer in the video for "Back To Life" (1989).[2] Her debut single, "What a See (A Guy Called Gerald Mix)" was released in 1998, and her debut album A.L.A. (Africans Living Abroad) came out on the Documented record label in 2006.[2]

Megalyn Ann Echikunwoke (born May 28, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for playing Nicole Palmer in the first season of 24 and Isabelle Tyler in The 4400. She plays the role of Carmen in the feature film Fix and Tara Price in CSI: Miami.

Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is a Nigerian-born English, although naturalised Australian, film, stage and voice actor, best known for films such as The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, V for Vendetta and Transformers.

Early life

Weaving was born in Nigeria to English parents Anne, a tour guide, and Wallace Weaving, a seismologist.[1] He spent his childhood in South Africa and then moved to the United Kingdom in his teens. While in England he attended the prestigious boarding school Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, commonly known in Bristol as QEH. He moved to Australia in 1976, where he attended Sydney's Knox Grammar School. Weaving later graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1981.

Career

Weaving's first major role was in the 1984 Australian television series Bodyline, as the English cricket captain Douglas Jardine. Weaving appeared in the Australian miniseries The Dirtwater Dynasty in 1988 and starred opposite Nicole Kidman in the 1989 film Bangkok Hilton. In 1991, Weaving received the Australian Film Institute's award for "Best Actor" for his performance in the low-budget Proof. He also appeared as Sir John in the 1993 Yahoo Serious comedy, Reckless Kelly, a lampoon of the famous Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. However, Weaving first received attention overseas with the international hit Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in 1994. In 1998 Weaving received the award for "Best Actor" from the Montreal Film Festival for his performance in The Interview. Weaving was also a voice actor in the cartoon film The Magic Pudding.

He earned further international attention with his performance as the enigmatic Agent Smith in the 1999 blockbuster hit The Matrix. Weaving later reprised the role of Smith in that film's 2003 sequels: The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
Weaving depicting Elrond in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Weaving depicting Elrond in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

He also garnered much popular attention in the role of the Elven Lord, Elrond in Peter Jackson's three-film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, released between 2001 and 2003. Weaving was the main actor in Andrew Kotatko's award-winning film Everything Goes (2004). He also starred as a heroin addicted ex rugby league player in the 2005 Australian indie film Little Fish, opposite Cate Blanchett. He also played the title role as V in the 2006 film V for Vendetta, in which he was reunited with the Wachowski brothers, creators of The Matrix trilogy, who wrote the adapted screenplay. Actor James Purefoy was originally signed to play the role, but he pulled out six weeks into filming. Weaving appeared in the majority of V for Vendetta, and reshot all of James Purefoy's scenes as V (even though his face is never seen) apart from a couple of minor dialogue-free scenes early in the film. Stuntman David Leitch performed all of V's stunts.

Weaving also reprised his role as Elrond for the video game, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II. He regularly appears in productions by the Sydney Theatre Company. In 2006, he worked with Cate Blanchett on a reprise of the STC production of Hedda Gabler in New York City. In a controversial move[citation needed] by director Michael Bay, Weaving was chosen as the voice of the Decepticon leader Megatron in the 2007 live-action film Transformers, rather than using the original voice created by the classic voice actor, Frank Welker. Bay stated on the DVD release of the film that he wanted Megatron to have a physicality similar to Weaving's, and that Welker's voice didn't fit the new interpretation of the character.

Personal life

When he was 13 years old, Weaving was diagnosed with epilepsy.[2] Due to the prospect of seizures, Weaving does not drive cars.[citation needed] He lives with his wife Katrina Greenwood[1] and two children, Harry (b. 1989) and Holly (b. 1993). He has a brother, Simon Weaving who has two daughters, Samara Weaving and Morgan Weaving.

A notable pescatarian, Weaving is also the primary ambassador for Australian animal rights organization Voiceless. Hugo attends events and promotes Voiceless in interviews. He also assists Voiceless in their judging of annual grant's recipients.

Bobby Ologun (born Alaji Karim Ologun on April 8, 1966) is a Nigerian-born TV personality, gaikokujin tarento in Japan, and a K-1, mixed martial artist. In Japan, he is known simply as Bobby (ボビー, Bobby?). He speaks English, Yoruba and Japanese. He currently lives in Saitama, Saitama Prefecture. On July 26, 2007, he announced on Mezamashi TV that he had become a naturalized citizen of Japan, taking his wife's surname and registering officially as Bobby Konda (近田ボビー, Bobby Konda?).


Profile

Ologun is the third brother in a family of thirty one brothers and sisters. After graduating from a Nigerian university, he came to Japan as an assistant to a trading company which his father manages. In 2001, he worked a part-time job in the kitchen of a cafe in Daikanyama, Shibuya while also first appearing in Sanma Akashiya's television program Sanma's Super Karakuri-TV on Tokyo Broadcasting System as a non-Tarento interviewee. By the end of the year, he was regular on the popular skits featured on Karakuri-TV, The Funniest Language School, as a student.

Fame by gaffing

Foreigners who have trouble speaking Japanese are often featured in Japanese variety shows, which may explain the immediate success of Bobby Ologun. His frequent confusion (or feigned confusion) quickly made him an instant star on the Karakuri-TV show.

Some of his famous mistakes were:

* When asked once to compose a haiku poem, he quickly created this work of art:

"A winter morning, The pigeon looks very, very delicious."

* Frequently shouted "Don't mess about!" to people who hold a higher position or status than him. He also addresses them with very rude pronouns, such as "Omae" and "Aitsu".
* Called the famous diviner Kazuko Hosoki, "Usagi-sensei" (Rabbit teacher) instead of "Hosoki-sensei" on her TV show.
* Confused tensai (genius) with hentai (pervert).
* Rearranged Ayumi Hamasaki's name into "Amaguri Kayumi" (Itchy Sweet-chestnut). However, the "Amaguri" could have been a switchout for "Hamaguri" which is a type of clam that is symbolic of the vagina in Japanese culture (it is common to switch taboo words for their closest spelled or phonetic equivalent in Japanese entertainment), hence the lasting novelty of the gaffe. He is supposedly a fan of Hamasaki.
* Routinely mistook "Kinchō" (anxiousness) with "Kanchō" (enema).
* Used facial contortions that are associated with "darkie" iconography, such as puffing his lips out to the point of absurdity and bugging out his eyes. His character also uses traits akin to the infamous minstrel shows such as acting ignorant, mentally slow, and overbearingly energetic for no reason.

Fighting origins and records

One of the running skits on Sanma's Super Karakuri TV featured Ologun attempting a variety of different jobs and skills in which he had no previous experience (he succeeded Tamao Nakamura in these skit performances). Inspired from watching Bob Sapp vs Taro Akebono on K-1 Dynamite!! on New Year's Eve in 2003, Ologun tried judo on Karakuri-TV. Karakuri-TV's emcee, Sanma Akashiya (who had previously watched a VTR of Ologun struggling in the martial art and half-jokingly said, "Bobby might be able to take part in a combat sport event at the end of the year.", in reference to the New Year's Eve supershows put on by K-1, PRIDE, and Antonio Inoki's now defunct BOM-BA-YE promotion. As a result, he tried various full contact combat sports on the program.

By February 2004, he was initiated into the pancrase stable, "GRABAKA" and studied under its founder, Sanae Kikuta. In March of that same year, he experienced a sparring match with MMA and Jiu-Jitsu legend Royce Gracie. He lost, but Ologun performed better than expected, as he was able to cut Gracie and make him bleed from his forehead. In a joke turned reality, he faced French kickboxer Cyril Abidi in K-1 Dynamite!! at the Osaka Dome on December 31, 2004 Ologun won by three round decision, and scored a surprise victory. This match was the only pure MMA rules bout on that night's card, giving Ologun a slight advantage due to his training and the fact that his opponent, while an accomplished kickboxer, wasn't prepared for MMA style fighting. Abidi was a last minute addition to the fight, Ologun's original opponent Mike Bernardo had to withdrawal due to an injury. Additionally, there was confusion to the rule system of the bout as the captions showed it to be the general kickboxing rules but ended up as an MMA contest. Abidi was admonished for actions Ologun was doing repeatedly in the fight, such as mounted punches, which led fighting pundits to believe the fight was fixed Abidi himself hinted the fight was fixed in a post fight interview.[1] The Japanese media, which focused quite a bit of time on fighting events such as K-1 and PRIDE, soon dubbed Ologun Saikyō no Shirōto (The Strongest Amateur).

Ologun's next fight was against former Yokozuna, Akebono at K-1 Dynamite!! on New Year's Eve 2005. Akebono, who had a fighting record of 1-9 entering the fight, fiercely attacked Ologun in the first and second rounds. However, Ologun steadily fought his way to another three round decision.

His next fight was in Sapporo at K-1 Revenge on July 30, 2006 where he fought Asian GP champion Yusuke Fujimoto. Ologun earned the ire of the referee with unsportsmanlike conduct as he tripped and pushed over Fujimoto repeatedly, trying to punch at him afterward, and going for sucker punches after gesturing for a break, all of which led to a yellow card. At the end of the 3rd round, he tripped Fujimoto one last time and then stood over him in an unsportsmanlike fashion. Added to the knockdown he suffered in the first round, he lost his first fight and his first under K-1 rules by unanimous decision.

At K-1 Dynamite, New Years Eve 2006, during the K-1 HERO'S was set face the 7'2", 360lb. Choi Hong Man. Choi, on the Hero's website, warned Ologun about his in-ring behavior, saying (in Japanese), "Bobby had better grow up." (ボビ?, "Bobby had better grow up."?), and , "If he makes me mad, He's going to the hospital." (私を怒, "If he makes me mad, He's going to the hospital."?). In the subsequent fight, Ologun immediately tried a flying kick to Choi's head, but missed. This allowed Choi to capitalize and punch Ologun repeatedly in the head, leading to a stoppage of the bout after 16 seconds into the first round.

Ologun's latest fight was on the next year's K-1 Dynamite show against the returning Bob Sapp. Once again, he was defeated easily by his larger and more powerful opponent by Technical Knock Out in the first round.

Assault controversy

On January 25, 2006, Ologun allegedly assaulted Katsuyuki Ito, the president of the entertainment agency, R&A Promotions, to which Ologun belongs in Shibuya. Police deliberated whether to send prosecution documents to court in lieu of the charges.According to the investigation, Ologun reportedly seized the president's clothes and acted violently by throwing around furniture because of a dispute over payment. John Muwete Muruaka, who is famous in Japan as the former private secretary of the scandalized House of Representatives Muneo Suzuki and a member the same agency as Ologun, happened to be there and tried to stop the fight, resulting in a scuffle between the two men.

Ologun later denied that the incident had happened saying, "I didn't hit anybody. On the contrary, I was hit by Muruaka" at a news conference on the same day. It had come out later that Ologun was being paid per the stipulations of his contract, but he did not fully understand the Japanese legalese in it, so he made a deal he didn't have a full understanding of.

At the same time, it was found out that he had lied about his age when the police identified his driver's license in Harajuku police station. He claimed to have been born in 1973 until then, but he was actually born in 1966. He has denied lying about his age. Ologun now uses this incident as part of his gimmick by lying about his age on his blog and on television shows as he maintains that he is 34 years old.

He was banned from appearing on Japanese television for three months and was confined to his quarters from January to April 2006 by the geinokai following the assault incident.[3]. He has since returned to television, but his appearances and bookings have been sparse as compared to the time before the incident. This was believed to be because the talent agency that held his contract, R&A Promotions, wasn't sending any jobs his way due to the bad publicity surrounding the incident. Ologun was still under contract to R&A until December 2007. For that reason, and even though he was under contract and the legality of his actions were questionable, in May 2006, Ologun announced the start of his own independent talent agency, Alemco Productions. However, on September 8, 2006 an announcement on Ologun's blog by R&A Promotions mentioned that they had come to a reconciliation with Ologun and were representing him once again.

@ Poster,
Nice work and piece.

I deeply cherish to meet Megalyn someday. I was ecstatic and euphoric the day i found out she was Nigerian while reading up gists on the 4400 series. Totally inlove with her. Damn beautiful in '4400' as Isabelle. Never knew she was would be President Palmers daughter in '24'.

nice work . give us more.

.

ehmm. . interesing but not dat i know any of dem thou

Thats the whole point. You did not know them but now you do. You will have come in contact with some of their works. Like Labi who sang 'Something Inside so strong' in the eighties.

Clifford Samuel is a British actor.

Clifford Samuel began acting at the Anna Scher Theatre. He is from North London and born of Nigerian heritage. Clifford trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and graduated early to make his graduate debut at the Royal Shakespeare Company, in Julius Caesar and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, in Stratford-upon-Avon and also toured in the United States.

Clifford played Octavius Caesar at the Lyric theatre Hammersmith, in London in 2005. He then went on to work for the Cheek by Jowl theatre company, in the classical play, The Changeling at the Barbican theatre in London. Clifford toured with The Changeling on an extensive European tour in 2006, where it was awarded Best Foreign Play 2006 in Spain. Samuel portrayed Tony Anderson, opposite actor Jack Shepherd, in the play Chasing the Moment at the Arcola Theatre.

He later appeared as the co-lead in the much anticipated two-part special of The Bill, which went on to win the Best Diversity In Drama Production at the Screen Nation Awards 2007, best continuing drama at the Royal Television Society Awards and nominated for Best Continuing Drama at the 2008 BAFTA TV Awards.

Clifford is currently performing at The National Theatre as the co-lead in a new play by the actor/playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah called Statement of Regret.

Clifford is working on the upcoming feature film Shoot on Sight, directed by Jag Mundhra.

Ejiofor was born in London's Forest Gate to Nigerian parents who belonged to the Igbo ethnic group.[1] His father, Arinze, was a doctor, and his mother, Obiajulu, was a pharmacist.[2][3] He began acting in school plays at the age of thirteen at Dulwich College and joined the National Youth Theatre and played the title role in Othello at the Bloomsbury Theatre in September 1995, and again at the Arts Theatre in 1996 when he starred opposite Rachael Stirling, who played Desdemona.

[edit] Career

Ejiofor made his film debut in the television movie Deadly Voyage in 1996. He went on to become a prominent stage actor in London. In 1999, he appeared in the British film G:MT, in which he appeared totally naked as he walked towards the camera. In 2000, he starred in Blue/Orange at the Royal National Theatre (Cottesloe stage), and later at the Duchess Theatre. That same year, his performance as Romeo in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award. Ejiofor was awarded the Jack Tinker Award for Most Promising Newcomer at the 2000 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards. For his performance in Blue/Orange, he received the 2000 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer and a 2001 nomination for the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award Best Supporting Actor.

Ejiofor had his first leading film role in the 2002's Dirty Pretty Things, for which he won a British Independent Film Award for best actor. He also starred in Jonathan Meyerson's 2003 screen adaptation of Chaucer's The Knight's Tale. He starred alongside Hilary Swank in 2004's Red Dust, portraying the fictional politician Alex Mpondo of post-apartheid South Africa. He played the central part of Prince Alamayou in Peter Spafford's radio play I was a stranger, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 17 May 2004. He also received acclaim for his performance as a complex antagonist The Operative in the 2005 movie Serenity. Ejiofor played a revolutionary in the highly acclaimed 2006 film Children of Men. His performance in Kinky Boots received Golden Globe and British Independent Film Award nominations. He was also nominated for the 2006 BAFTA Rising Star Award, which recognises emerging British film talent. Ejiofor's performance in Tsunami: The Aftermath received a 2007 Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a miniseries or film made for TV.

In 2007, he starred opposite Don Cheadle in Talk to Me,[4] a film based on the true story about Ralph "Petey" Greene (played by Cheadle), an African American radio personality in the '60s and '70s. He performed on stage in The Seagull at the Royal Court Theatre from 18 January to 17 March 2007.

He has roles in four films in 2007 and 2008: Toussaint, American Gangster, Tonight at Noon and Redbelt. Ejiofor is considered one of the leading candidates to play T'Challa in the proposed Black Panther (comics) movie based on the Marvel comic books character.

In 2007, he reprised his role as Othello at the Donmar Warehouse, alongside Kelly Reilly as Desdemona, and Ewan McGregor as Iago. The production received favorable reviews, with particularly strong praise for Ejiofor. "Chiwetel Ejiofor produces one of the most memorable performances of Othello in recent years".[5] He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance.

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.[6]