Kemi Lala Akindoju is one of the most talented young actresses working in Nigeria at the moment. She was born March 8, 1987, and she is from Ondo State (Nigeria). She attended The Fountain School, Surulere (Lagos) for her primary school education. She attended Queens College, Yaba (Lagos) for her secondary school education. She studied Insurance at University of Lagos, and she also holds a master’s degree in Media and Communication from the Pan African University.
She started acting professionally in 2005, and her first appearance was in the play, All I Want For Christmas. For the first 5 years of her acting career, she concentrated exclusively on stage performances. She was part of the team that started Theatre @ Terra – a theatre initiative supported by the cultural centre, Terra Kulture, which is located in Lagos. She was on stage every Sunday back to back for 3 years as part of the Theatre @ Terra project.
She has appeared in over 70 stage productions, playing roles such as Amope in Wole Soyinka’s Trials of Brother Jero, Ojuola in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods are not to Blame, Sizwe in Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Bansi is Dead, and Iyaloja in Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman.
In 2010, she won the award for Actor of the Year at The Future Awards – on the strength of her performance as a stage actor. Also in 2010, she began to accept roles in television and film. She plays the character, Sheila Monroe on the MNet soap, Tinsel. She features in Alan Poza – a Charles Novia film, which will be released before the end of 2012. She is also scheduled to feature in a new movie to be produced by Ego Boyo.
Kemi Lala Akindoju is perhaps one of the best kept secrets in the Nigerian acting community. As she begins to appear more on TV, and in film, she will become more familiar to a wider audience, who will definitely come to appreciate her talent, and her passion for acting.
