Funke Akindele’s Inspiring Journey To Stardom As She Turns 40

Akindele, OlaFunke Ayotunde, simply known as Funke Akindele or ‘Jenifa’ is a year older today. The star actress  who turns 40years has undoubtedly become a household name by creating a niche for herself in the Nigerian entertainment industry. This of course, did not start in a day.
Funke Akindele’s Journey To Stardom:

She was born on August 24, 1976 in Ikorodu, Lagos state but she had her early education in Calabar.She is the second of three children (two sisters and one brother). Her mother is a medical doctor while her father is a retired school principal.
She has a Law degree from the  University Of Lagos State and an Ordinary National Diploma in Mass Communication from Ogun State Polytechnic.
She gained popularity in the popular  United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA) sponsored sitcom,’ I NEED TO KNOW’ which ran from 1997-2002 where she played ‘Bisi’ a curious but highly intelligent secondary school student.

Funke Akindele as ‘Bisi’ in ‘I NEED TO KNOW’
Funke Akindele acted majorly in Yoruba movies after the sitcom before gradually appearing in Nollywood English movies.Her film title ‘JENIFA’ is been regarded as her best work of all time as an actress and movie producer.
‘JENIFA’ is a 2008 Nigerian Yoruba comedy-drama film starring ,Funke Akindele. The film received 4 nominations at the African Movie Academy Awards in 2008. Funke Akindele, the main protagonist of the film, won the African Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in Leading Role for her role as ‘Jenifa‘.
That was just the beginning, In 2011,  came the ‘THE RETURN OF JENIFA’ and in 2015 came the comical Television series ‘JENIFA’S DIARY’, hilarious and educative showing on terrestrial Television stations in Nigeria ((Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Silverbird Television (STV), African Independent Television (AIT)). Funke Akindele also runs a non-governmental Organisation known as THE JENIFA FOUNDATION, this involves nurturing talent and acquiring vocational skills. Other movies to her credit include; ‘MAAMI’, ‘MARRIED BUT LIVING SINGLE‘, ‘COMPOUND FOOL’ ,among others.

Funke In ‘Jenifa’s Diary’

Funke Akindele has a lot of endorsement deals to her name with Globacom, Jobberman.com, Vitafoam, Qlichy.com, Klin Detergent, Lagos Inland Revenue Service, OMO and the most recent is with Iroko TV.


Funke Akindele signing endorsement deal with IROKOTV
Funke Akindele’s net worth is said to be about $700,000 – ₦140 million.