Tony Umez is a veteran Nigerian actor. He has acted in more than 200

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 ...

films of both English and

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

languages since his debut in th
1998
fil
''Died Wretched: Buried in N2.3m Casket''.
ref>punchng.com

Early life and education

Tony Umez was born in Ogidi,

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 ...

in southeast Nigeria. His mother is from Cross River State while his father is from Ogidi, the same place he was born. Despite his Igbo origin, he doesn't speak Igbo but can fluently speak Efik, his mother's language. Umez grew up in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

where he had his primary and secondary education. He also has a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

and

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in English and international law and diplomacy respectively from the University of Lagos.

Acting career

He started acting in his secondary days when he performed in stage plays and dramas. In 1993, the actor joined

. He did not get a dime from his two movies which made him leave the industry for a few years. * He returned to the industry in 1997 and featured in the movie, "The Princess" but it was the movie," Died Wretched" which was released in 1998 that made him popular. * Tony Umez then went on to star in the 2003 blockbuster hit movie, " Billionaire's Club" which was released in 2003. He also went on to star in another massive hit of the same year called " Blood Sisters".

Filmography

References

External links

* Living people Male actors in Yoruba cinema 20th-century Nigerian male actors 21st-century Nigerian male actors University of Lagos alumni Nigerian male film actors 1964 births Nigerian male television actors Igbo actors Actors from Anambra State 20th-century Nigerian actors {{Nigeria-actor-stub