From being an Hairdresser to a Veteran Actress
Read Her Inspiring Story;
“Just few of us have watched her grow as a young debutante to become a mature veteran in the Nollywood scene, and two things that have remained with her over the years are her matchless, every-day-young, beauty and unparalleled acting prowess with which she thrills her audience and keep them glued to the screen.
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ndeed, ada Igbo, Ngozi Ezeonu is one of the few pioneers of the Nigerian film industry that have steadily upped their trade and contributed immensely to redefining and rebranding the Nollywood of today.
Sure, not many of us know much about this illustrious daughter of the land and her grace-to-grass story.
Ngozi set out from the small community of Ogbunike in Anambra state where she was born on 23 May, 1965. Her parents, Maazi and Nne D.O. Ikpelue gave birth to and trained her together with other 6 children, 5 of whom are boys (and only 2 girls) in the traditional setting of the old Anambra.
Ngozi’s birth came in the wake of the Nigeria-Biafra war. However, the major setbacks she and her family suffered, notwithstanding, she remained resolute in pursuing her dreams and shining in her generation.
After she left Elementary school, she couldn’t proceed further and had to just settle for a hairdressing job. She worked for a while as a local hair-stylist before she had the opportunity to further her studies in Journalism.
Thanks to her brilliance, Ngozi could finish her Diploma in Journalism Programme on time and land a job almost immediately. However, she still had an eye for acting.
And in 1993, Zeb Ejiro offered her the opportunity to follow her dream in Nollywood with the movies, “Living in Bondage” and “Nneka the Snake Girl”. Both movies became a hit and shot her to limelight– the rest was history.
In 2012, she won another major award for her lead role in the movie “Adesuwa.”
Her other standout movies with whcih she won several awards include Glamour Girls, Shattered Mirror, The Pretty Serpent, Tears of a Prince, Cry of a Virgin, Abuja top Ladies, Family Secret.
Having featured in over 200 movies and spent over 26 years in Nollywood, Ngozi deserves the loudest applause for remaining scandal-free. Of all the scandals in Nollywood, none is said to have hit her. Though some few years back a rumour broke out of her having issues with her husband. But she debunked the rumour.
According to her, the Igbo traditional values and morals her parents trained her with have helped her stay off messy acts and scandals – a major reason she rejects nude, romance and extreme love roles.
In 2014, she was rumoured to have died. This was the time she lost her mother, Nnee Joy Ikpelue .
Ngozi is married to Maazi Edwin Ezeonu and together they have 4 lovely kids (Ogechukwu, her first daughter, a graduate of North American University; Chidera, her first son, a graduate of DELSU; Melveen an undergraduate at Madonna University; and the last daughter whose identity is still hidden to the public).
Ngozi is a true ambassador of Igbo cultural and heritage. She has often expressed herself in public in Igbo language and claims to have groom all his children in the Igbo culture and traditions.
Evidence of this, of course, is her traditional Igbo wife role in Genevieve Nnaji’s latest blockbuster movie, “LionHeart.”
Happy 54th Birthday to Nollywood Icon Ngozi Ezeonu
