Kenneth Obinna Okolie (born February 21, 1984) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

actor and model who was crowned Mr Nigeria in 2010 and in 2015 won the '' City People Movie Award for Best Supporting Actor of the Year (English) at the

City People Entertainment Awards City People Entertainment Awards are an annual accolade presented by ''City People Magazine'' to honour Nigerian and Ghanaian entertainers. The first edition was held in Abeokuta, Ogun State on June 14, 2009. The event was hosted by Governor Gbe ...

.''

Early life and education

Okolie is a native of

Ihiala Ihiala is a city in Nigeria, located in the southern part of Anambra State and within the region known as Igboland. It has long served as the local administrative capital of Ihiala Local Government Area. The Local Government Area has a population ...

Anambra state Anambra State is a Nigerian state, located in the southeastern region of the country. The state was created on August 27, 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State to the south, Enugu State to the east and Kogi State ...

a southeastern geographical area of Nigeria predominantly occupied by the

Igbo people The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and formerly also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'', * * * ''Eboans'', ''Heebo''; natively ) are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A ...

of Nigeria. Okolie is the first born child of his parents and has three siblings. He graduated with a B.Sc. degree from

Valley View University Valley View University is a private university with campuses located at Oyibi (Accra), Kumasi and Techiman (Sunyani) respectively in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Bono East regions of Ghana. It forms part of a worldwide system of over 100 tert ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Modeling and acting career

Okolie before his debut into the Nigerian movie industry began as a model in 2006, in which he described as a coincidence as he merely escorted a friend to an audition for models and never intended to participate in the auditioning process but was compelled to audition by those conducting the audition of which he accepted their request and auditioned. He was successful in the audition and was selected hence debuting his career as a model. In 2010, four years after debuting his modeling career, Okolie participated in the Mr Nigeria male pageant and won. Okolie after winning the pageant, proceeded to the

Mister World The Mister World competition is a male beauty pageant sponsored by the Miss World Organisation. The competition was founded in 1996. The entrants compete in various activities including waterskiing, mountain biking, and marathon running. The cur ...

pageant and emerged as the second runner. Okolie debuted into the Nigerian movie industry in 2011. Okolie described his venture into the Nigerian movie industry as a coincidence as well as he never intended to be an actor.

Award

Okolie won the ''City People Movie Award for Best Supporting Actor of the Year (English) at the

.''

Personal life

Okolie married Nwaka Jessica in 2017 and in 2019 gave birth to their first child.

2012 Kidnap case

In 2012 Okolie travelled to

Owerri Owerri ( , ) is the capital city of Imo State in Nigeria, set in the heart of Igboland. It is also the state's largest city, followed by Orlu, Okigwe and Ohaji/Egbema. Owerri consists of three Local Government Areas including Owerri Municipal, ...

which is the capital of

Imo state Imo State ( ig, Ȯra Imo) is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its n ...

for the purpose of shooting a movie alongside

Nollywood Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in ''The New York Times''. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there ...

colleague; Nkiru Sylvanus. It was reported that on December 15 both Okolie and Nkiru Sylvanus had been abducted and a ransom of ₦100,000,000 (One hundred million naira) which was per exchange rate in 2012 equivalent to $640,000 (Six Hundred and forty thousand

U.S The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

dollars) was demanded by their captors in exchange for their release. On December 21, 2012 at 10:30pm on the 6th day since their kidnap Okolie and co-actor Nkiru Sylvanus were released from captivity and regained freedom. The amount eventually paid in exchange for their release was never reported by the Nigerian media.

Selected filmography

TV series

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Okolie, Kenneth Living people 1984 births 21st-century Nigerian male actors Igbo male actors Nigerian male models Igbo male models Male actors from Anambra State Nigerian male film actors Nigerian male television actors Kidnapped Nigerian people Nigerian film producers Nigerian film award winners 20th-century births