Friday 31 July 2015
Wednesday 29 July 2015
RITA EDOCHIE
Rita Edochie, Actress: Onye-Eze. Rita Edochie is an actress, known for Onye-Eze (2001), Living with Death 2 (2006) and Living with Death (2006).
MICHELLE YEOH
Michelle Yeoh
Actress
Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng is a Malaysian actress, best known for performing her own stunts in the Hong Kong action films that brought her to fame in the early 1990s. Born in Ipoh, Malaysia, she was chosen by People as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" in 1997.
OMOTOLA JALADE
Omotola Jalade Ekeinde is a Nigerian actress, singer, philanthropist and former model of an Ondo descent from Lagos, Nigeria. Since her Nollywood film debut in 1995, the leading actress has appeared in 300 films, selling millions of video copies. After receiving numerous high-profile awards, launching a music career, and amassing an enviable fan base, the press has revered the Screen Nation 'Best Actress' as The "African Magic". She is the first African celebrity to receive over 1 million likes on her Facebook page.
GENEVIEVE NNAJI
Genevieve Nnaji (born 3 May 1979) is a Nigerian actress and singer. She won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 2005.
OSITA IHEME
Actor
Osita Iheme is a Nigerian actor. He is widely known for playing the role of 'Pawpaw' in the film Aki na Ukwa alongside Chinedu Ikedieze. In 2007 Osita received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the African Movie Academy Awards. He is considered to be one of Nigeria's most famous actors. In 2011, he was honored as a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic.
VICTOR OSUAGWU
PAT ATTAH
ERNEST OBI
PETE EDOCHIE
YUL EDOCIHE
ICE CUBE
Ice Cube
Rapper
O'Shea Jackson, better known by his stage name Ice Cube, is an American rapper, record producer, actor, and filmmaker. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music and films. Additionally, he has served as one of the producers of the Showtime television series Barbershop and the TBS series Are We There Yet?, both of which are based upon the films in which he portrayed the main character.
HATTIE MC-DANIEL
Hattie McDaniel
American Actress
Hattie McDaniel was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedienne. She is best known for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first African American to win an Academy Award.
JULIA ROBERTS
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress and producer. She became a movie star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman, which grossed $464 million worldwide. After winning two Golden Globe Awards and also receiving Academy Award nominations for Steel Magnolias and Pretty Woman, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Erin Brockovich.
SAMUEL L. JACKSON
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and film producer. He achieved prominence and critical acclaim in the early 1990s with films such as Jungle Fever (1991), Patriot Games (1992), Amos & Andrew (1993), True Romance (1993), Jurassic Park (1993) and his collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino in the films Pulp Fiction (1994) and Jackie Brown (1997). He is a highly prolific actor, appearing in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000), The 51st State (2001), Black Snake Moan (2006), Snakes on a Plane (2006) and the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With Jackson's permission, his likeness was used for the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics character Nick Fury. He later cameoed as the character in a post-credits scene from Iron Man (2008), and went on to sign a nine-film commitment to reprise this role in future films, including major roles in Iron Man 2 (2010), Marvel's The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and minor roles in Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). He has also portrayed the character in the second and final episode of the first season of the TV show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Jackson has achieved critical and commercial acclaim, surpassing Frank Welker as the actor with the highest grossing film total of all time in October 2011,[1] and he has received numerous accolades and awards. He is married to LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has a daughter, Zoe. Samuel L. Jackson is ranked as the highest all-time box office star with over $4.572 billion total box office gross, an average of $70.3 million per film.[2
BARACK OBAMA
Barack Obama
President of the United States
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States, and the first African American to hold the office. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney and taught constitutional law at University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, running unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 2000.
PASTOR CHRIS OYAKHILOME
Chris Oyakhilome
Minister
Chris Oyakhilome is a Nigerian minister who is the founding president of Believers' LoveWorld Incorporated also known as "Christ Embassy", a Bible-based Christian ministry headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.
LIONEL RICHIE
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and actor. Beginning in 1968, he was a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records. Richie made his solo debut in 1982 with the album Lionel Richie and the number-one hit "Truly". He has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time.
CHINYERE UDOMA
SINACH
KIRK FRANKLIN
DARWIN HOBBS
PAUL NWOKOCHA
Paul Nwokocha is a gospel artiste with close to 40 albums to his credit. But he didn't become a known name until a few years ago when he did 'Nkwa Praise,' a gospel album that somewhat became a household item.
But much as the album shot him into prominence, it also brought with it trials and tribulations that almost made him to commit suicide. The album did not only turn him to a villain, it caused his kinsmen in Aba, Abia State, to declare him a persona non grata. Why? They believed the instant wealth he experienced could not have come from the album alone, but also from some rituals.
It was a grave allegation that forced the musician to release another album entitled Akam di Ocha (my hands are clean), which incidentally won him the Best Gospel artiste award at the recently held Nigeria Music Awards 2008.
Spectacles ran into him in Owerri and he recalled the turbulent times and how he was able to wade through them.
Nwokocha started his career as a musician 25 years ago. In primary school, he was reputed by many as a very good singer. So much so that he was invited to perform at many functions. “I remember that each time our SS 3 students were leaving school after their exams and the school held a valedictory service for them, I was always called upon to sing. After singing, some guests would come to me and offer to pay for my education. I finished my primary and secondary education on scholarship.”
Since it was singing that made it possible for Nwokocha to get some formal education, he could not but hold on to his talent. He therefore decided to become a professional musician.
But why gospel music? Spectacles asked.
“I grew up in a Christian family, with Christian music all around me. So, when I started singing, I started with Christian music. The reason is that I acknowledge God, the creator. He is the one that gave me the voice to sing. I come from a poor background, so when I look around me and see how good God has been to me, I sing his praises.”
Indeed, Nwokocha had a very poor family background.
“We used to eat the chaff from pap. I still remember the day my mum sent me to get it from one woman in our village. I got there late, so the woman had swept the chaff into the dust bin before I arrived. We had to pick them out of the dust bin. Some of them were mixed with ashes but I still had to pick them, otherwise we wouldn't have had anything to eat. As I was leaving with the chaff, the woman wept for us. But I was happy that I got food.
“We would pound the chaff into a meal of eba, and then we would pick some palm fruits from the farm. My mum would cook it, melt it, add some seasoning and use it as soup to complement the eba. Of course, there was nothing like fish or meat, and we would eat it like that.”
In the midst of poverty, Nwokocha remained a happy boy. He was happy because he had music. Each time he needed encouragement, he sang. He continued like that until he became a man.
To pursue his dream, he left his Abiriba, Abia State village and came to Aba, the commercial city of Abia State, to see if he could make ends meet with music. But it was as if the hard times followed him there. “I left the village for Aba on my own. Nobody helped me to get to Aba. It was not easy at all. I was sleeping on the streets until I was able to get a one-room apartment.”
Surprisingly, Nwokocha remained a pauper even after his albums started selling?
He explained. “My albums were selling but the marketer who handled it never remitted the money. My music was selling and he was giving me peanuts. Do you remember Oh Lord I Am Very, Very Grateful? That was my song. Ibu Chi m was also my song. I had about 18 hits, but I didn't have anything to show for it.”
But his time finally came in 2000. The album, Nkwa Praise, turned out to be a chart buster and he won many awards with it.
But that became the beginning of his trials. He told Spectacles the story: “In the year 2000, after so many albums, I came out with an album, Nkwa praise, which sold eight million copies. It gave me a lot of money. I used the money to build houses, buy cars and some earthly things, if you would say so. But when my colleagues saw the money I made, they started saying that it was not only music that gave me the money with which I acquired all those things. I didn't know they had paid a 'prophet' in Aba to mention my name as one of the ritual killers in the community.
“They said I was a ritualist, that I buried human heads in my compound and killed my parents and used their blood to make money. They even said my house had been burnt down. But if you come to my house, you will see it still there. My parents are very much alive. I never killed anybody. To the glory of God, during the scandals, He showed Himself strong.”
But how did the scandal begin? Spectacles asked.
“I went for an award ceremony in South Africa where I was named one of the best gospel artistes in Africa. That was when the scandal started. When I heard it, I left all that I was doing in South Africa and came back to Aba. People were even telling me that I shouldn't come out and that the 'prophet' called Utu, mentioned my name as one of the ritualists in the area. I told them to take me to where the man was and they took me there.
“When I got there, the man said he didn't know me. But some of his boys took him aside and told him that I was the ritualist that people were talking about.”
Nwokocha said the 'prophet' asked for N200,000, “but I told him that I didn't have that kind of money to give him. I asked him why he wanted money and he said if I gave him money, he would tell the people that I was innocent and that I was not among the people he mentioned as ritualists.”
He said because he didn't pay the money, his ordeal continued.
The gospel artiste recalled that Utu ordered that he should be brought to him whenever he was sighted. But he said he didn't wait to be 'arrested' before he presented himself to the 'prophet'. “I went to him on my own. People had gathered there before I arrived, but he did not say anything. Instead, he started dragging me into the house. I lifted my hands to the heavens and said, 'God, my hands are clean.' To my greatest surprise, about the same time, a man shouted and started yelling at Utu, 'If you kill this man, I will expose all the evil you have been doing. You know that this man is innocent!'
“The stranger grabbed my hand and brought me out. He then turned to the gathering and asked who had brought me to the place. Some people chorused that they were the ones. The man said they should take me away.
“Utu later confessed that an artiste came to him and offered him N3 million to destroy me. He said the artiste gave him N1.5 million and promised to bring the balance after he had destroyed me.”
Nwokocha would not disclose the name of the artiste, whom he said had apologised to him. “He came to apologise for what he had done. I told him I had forgiven him, but that he should desist from such acts in future.”
But Nwokocha said the scandal dealt a heavy blow on him and his family.
“My wife couldn't go to the market, because nobody would sell to her. My sisters could not buy or sell in the market. At a point, I wanted to commit suicide because I could no longer bear the humiliation. I was at the last floor in my house and I said to myself, 'If I jump down now and die, all these whahala would end.' But another voice told me not to do it.”
Although he made a lot of money from the album, his finances started to dwindle in the midst of the crisis. “Nobody was buying my tapes any longer. If I was walking on the streets, I would see my tapes broken and thrown on the road. It was really bad.”
Some other wives would have believed the scandal, but Nwokocha said his wife never believed any of it. Rather, she stood by him until the storm was over.
“She knew the kind of husband she was married to. I don't have any hidden area in my house. The door to my room is always open and people in the house can walk in and out as they like. My wife never believed them and she will never believe them. I've told myself that any day my leg entered into the place of a native doctor for anything, I should die. My family members believed I was innocent.”
Much as the crisis nearly pulled him down, Nwokocha said he was grateful that it happened when it did. “I see it as a stepping stone to what I have achieved now. I am bigger now than I was. The album I did after that incident is making more waves that the one that even brought the scandal about.”
Talking about the new album, Akam di Ocha, Nwokocha said, “I never wrote anything down. The lyrics just kept pouring in. I called a pianist to put some sound to it and I started recounting all the experiences I went through during that ordeal.”
He also said he had learnt a few things from the experience. “I have learnt that everything is in God's hands. I also know that life is just about time. When your time to shine comes, anybody that stands on your way, God will take them away.
FRANK EDWARDS
HEZEKIAH WALKER
Hezekiah Walker
Music Artist
Bishop Hezekiah Walker is a popular American gospel music artist and pastor of prominent Brooklyn New York megachurch, Love Fellowship Tabernacle. Walker has released several albums on Benson Records and Verity Records as Hezekiah Walker & The Love Fellowship Crusade Choir.
MORGAN FREEMAN
Morgan Freeman
American Actor
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, and narrator. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus, and won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby. He has also won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Freeman has appeared in many other box office hits, including Unforgiven, Glory, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Seven, Deep Impact, The Sum of All Fears, Bruce Almighty, Along Came a Spider, The Dark Knight Trilogy, March of the Penguins, The Lego Movie, and Lucy. He is known for his distinctively smooth, deep voice. He got his first break as part of the cast of The Electric Company.
ANNIE LENNOX
DARLENE ZSCHECH
Darlene Zschech
Singer-Songwriter
Darlene Joyce Zschech is an Australian Pentecostal Christian worship leader and singer-songwriter who primarily writes praise and worship songs. Described as a "pioneer of the modern worship movement", she is the former worship pastor of Hillsong Church and is currently a member of Compassionart, a charity founded by Martin Smith.
LADY GAGA
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
Florence Nightingale, OM, RRC (/ˈflɒrəns ˈnaɪtɨŋɡeɪl/; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was a celebrated English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. She came to prominence while serving as a manager of nurses trained by her during the Crimean War, where she organised the tending to wounded soldiers.[1] She gave nursing a highly favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.[2]
Some recent commentators have asserted Nightingale's achievements in the Crimean War were exaggerated by the media at the time, to satisfy the public's need for a hero. Nevertheless, critics agree on the decisive importance of her follow-up achievements in professionalizing nursing roles for women. In 1860, Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment of her nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in London. It was the first secular nursing school in the world, now part of King's College London. The Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses was named in her honour, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday. Her social reforms include improving healthcare for all sections of British society, advocating better hunger relief in India, helping to abolish prostitution laws that were over-harsh to women, and expanding the acceptable forms of female participation in the workforce.
Nightingale was a prodigious and versatile writer. In her lifetime, much of her published work was concerned with spreading medical knowledge. Some of her tracts were written in simple English so that they could easily be understood by those with poor literary skills. She also helped popularise the graphical presentation of statistical data. Much of her writing, including her extensive work on religion and mysticism, has only been published posthumously.
SHARUH KHAN
Shah Rukh Khan (born Shahrukh Khan, 2 November 1965), also known as SRK, is an Indian film actor, producer and television personality. Referred to in the media as "Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood" or "King Khan", he has appeared in more than 80 Bollywood films. Described by the Los Angeles Times as perhaps "the world's biggest movie star",[3] Khan has a significant following in Asia and the Indian diaspora worldwide. He is one of the richest actors in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$400–600 million, and his work in Bollywood has earned him numerous accolades, including 14 Filmfare Awards.
Khan started his career with appearances in several television series in the late 1980s. He made his Bollywood debut in 1992 with Deewana. Early in his career, Khan was recognised for portraying villainous roles in the films Darr (1993), Baazigar (1993) and Anjaam (1994). He then rose to prominence after starring in a series of romantic films, including Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001). He earned critical acclaim for his portrayal of an alcoholic in Devdas (2002), a NASA scientist in Swades (2004), a hockey coach in Chak De! India (2007) and a man with Asperger syndrome in My Name Is Khan (2010). Many of his films display themes of Indian national identity and connections with diaspora communities, or gender, racial, social and religious differences and grievances. For his contributions to film, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri, and the Government of France awarded him both the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Légion d'honneur.
As of 2015, Khan is co-chairman of the motion picture production company Red Chillies Entertainment and its subsidiaries, and is the co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders. He is a frequent television presenter and stage show performer. The media often label him as "Brand SRK" because of his many endorsement and entrepreneurship ventures. Khan's philanthropic endeavours have provided health care and disaster relief, and he was honoured with UNESCO's Pyramide con Marni award in 2011 for his support of children's education. He regularly features in listings of the most influential people in Indian culture, and in 2008 Newsweek named him one of their fifty most powerful people in the world.
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