DO YOU KNOW? Today's Feature is OMONI OBOLI

1. Omoni Sophie Oboli, the second of two girls was born on the 22nd of April 1978 in Benin City, the then Capital of Bendel State, Nigeria; though she hails from Mosogar, a town in Delta State.

2. Her primary education was at the Delta Steel Company Primary School 3, Ovwian-Aladja. Then she moved on to attend the Delta Steel Company Technical High School (DSC THS) between 1989 and 1994 for her secondary education. Interestingly, she held the positions of Head Girl (’94 set DSC THS), President Literary & Debating Society, Editor, Press Club & President, French Club all in her secondary school.

3. Between 1995 and 1999, Omoni studied Foreign Languages (majoring in French) at the University of Benin, Nigeria.

4. Omoni, who started acting at a very tender age, got her first professional movie role in 1996 in a movie titled ‘Bitter Encounter’, where she played the role of a secretary. After that she featured in Shame, before finally playing the lead role in ‘Not my will’.

5. On October 28, 2000, Omoni got married to Nnamdi Oboli whom she actually met on a movie set some years back; this was immediately after graduating from University of Benin (UNIBEN). Their union is blessed with three lovely boys – Tobe, Gozi and Chizi

6. Shortly after her marriage, she travelled to the United Kingdom, where she spent three years. In her words “I intended to come back to the industry later but I got married soon after school and we travelled out of the country. It took me about 10 years to eventually come back to the movie industry and of course, coming back was not easy, nobody remembered me from 10 years ago, I had to struggle.”

7. In June 2007, The Rivals, a movie she co-produced with her friend, Blessing Egbe won the coveted prize for Best International Drama at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. It was the first Nigerian film to be premiered since the festival’s inception in 2003.

8. Between 2010 and 2011, she won several awards – Best Actress at the 2010 Harlem International Film Festival, for movie Anchor Baby, Best Actress at the 2010 City People Awards For Excellence, Best Actress at the 2010 Los Angeles Movie Awards for her lead role in the movie Anchor Baby and Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 2011 African Movie Academy Awards for the movie, The Figurine amongst others.

9. She was once asked if the colour of her eyes were real or it was a result of wearing contact lens. The mother of three said “my eyes have been the most controversial part of my body all my life and I want to keep it that way.”

10. Omoni Oboli’s first kiss in a movie was with no other person than Desmond Elliot. It was in the movie ‘Unfinished Business’.