Nollywood diva Genevieve Nnaji has expressed her joy for the nomination of her film, Lionheart to world’s highest movie awards, the Oscars.

In a post on her social media handle during the week, the 40-year-old Mbaise, Imo State-born actress expressed her feelings thus:

“This is the first entry ever for Nigeria. It’s an honor to be a part of such a pivotal moment in the history of Nigerian cinema.

“A moment we know will be replicated as our stories continue to resonate with audiences around the world.

“On behalf of the entire LIONHEART team and TEN Productions, we are grateful for this recognition and proud to carry the torch. Thank you all for the love and support thus far.”

With this all-time nomination, the ebony-skinned single parent of one daughter, Chimebuka Nnaji, has scored yet another first in Nigeria’s make-believe industry.

Genevieve became the first actor to be awarded Best Actress at the 2001 City Peoples Awards, the award ceremony that previously had only recognised politicians and business conglomerates.

She was also the first actor to be awarded as Best Actress by the Censors Board of Nigeria in 2003.

In 2009, she was referred to as the “Julia Roberts of Africa” by Oprah Winfrey.

In November 2015, Gene Baby, as she is fondly called by her colleagues and friends, produced her first movie called Road to Yesterday, later winning Best Movie Overall-West Africa at the 2016 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards.

On September 7, 2018, her directorial debut, Lionheart, was acquired by online streaming service Netflix, making it the first Netflix original film from Nigeria.

The movie had its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, alongside Farming, the Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s autobiographical directorial debut where she starred in alongside Kate Beckinsale, Damson Idris, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

Genevieve Nnaji is Nollywood’s first billionaire since Netflix purchased her movie Lionheart for N1,385,100,000 ($3.8 million).

To crown it all, the one-time “Face of Lux” who started her acting career as a child actor in the then-popular television soap opera Ripples at the age of 8, and was in 1998 at the age of 19 introduced into the growing Nigerian film industry with the movie Most Wanted, was in 2011 honoured as Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) by the Nigerian government for her contributions to Nollywood.

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