Come October 4th
2014, River State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi will bestow on four nollywood
Thespians, a special recognition award for their immense achievement in
nollywood industry. This recognition will be giving to Liz Benson-Ameye,
Adebayo Salami, Nobert Young and Kasimu Yero
The recipients
have express great joy on honour that will be conferred on them by Gov Amaechi
by the 6th edition of the prestigious BON awards in River State,
They also envisage it as an experience they will cherish for a long time.
Speaking
on the reason for these choices, BON award Executive Producer Seun Oloketuyi
revealed that after much deliberation and research, these four came as the best
choices for this award category because they have made a great impact in
nollywood and have also been a source of inspiration to youths in Nigeria and
Africa generally.
Elizabeth Benson Liz, popularly known as Liz
Benson, began acting when she was just a kid. 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.
Surprisingly, just when her rating as a leading actress had begun to rise even
higher than expected, Benson suddenly quit acting in 1996. She became a
born-again Christian and started preaching the gospel.
She
started 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
Some
of her more popular 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
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, 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 Actor who has contributed immensely to the growth of
Nollywood.
Adebayo Salami
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 stable of
Awada Kerikeri in 1985. In 1987, He produced Omo Orukan and in 1989, Eri
Okan and all of these were on celluloid.
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