Daniel Etim Effiong, also Daniel Etim-Effiong is a Nigerian

Nollywood Nollywood, a portmanteau of Nigeria and Hollywood, is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term goes back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in ''The New York Times''. Due to the history ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

Life and education

He was born in Jaji,

Kaduna State Kaduna (, جىِهَر كَدُنا; مدينة كدونا; , ; ) is a States of Nigeria, state in the northwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna (city), Kaduna, which was the List of Nigerian ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and had lived in

Benin City Benin City serves as the Capital city, capital and largest Metropolitan area, metropolitan centre of Edo State, situated in Nigeria, southern Nigeria. It ranks as the List of Nigerian cities by population, fourth-most populous city in Niger ...

Edo State Edo State, Edo, officially known as Edo State, is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South, South-South Geopolitical zones of Nigeria, geopolitical zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As of 2024, the state was ranked as the List of Ni ...

;

Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

and

Abuja Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

. His dad was in the

Nigerian Army The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is the largest component of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The President of Nigeria is the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Army, and its professional head is the Chie ...

. His father, former Lt. Col. Moses Effiong was granted official presidential pardon by the Nigerian president

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian army major general, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 Augu ...

alongside five others sentenced to life imprisonment in 1986 after the allegedly failed Vatsa Coup during the

Ibrahim Babangida Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August 1941) is a Nigerian statesman and military dictator who ruled as military president of Nigeria from 1985 when he orchestrated a coup d'état against his military and political arch-rival Muhammadu ...

regime on charges of treason concealment against the regime and released in 1993 but without official proclamation and restoration of ranks and entitlements. In his formative years, he attended St. Mary's Private School,

Lagos Island Lagos Island () is the principal and central Local government areas of Nigeria, Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos, Nigeria. It was the capital of Lagos State until 1957. It is part of the Lagos Division. As of the preliminary 2006 Nigerian ce ...

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

and afterwards advanced for his secondary education at Government College,

Ikorodu Ikorodu is a city in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is located to the north-east of Lagos, along the Lagos Lagoon and shares boundary with Ogun State. With a population of over 1 million inhabitants, Ikorodu is currently the 12th largest city in Nig ...

, Lagos. He thereafter proceeded to the Federal University of Technology, Minna,

Niger State Niger State is a state in the North Central (Nigeria), North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kaduna State and the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory, to the north by Kebbi State and Zamfara State, ...

, where he studied and obtained a first degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

. After a brief working period in the

oil and gas A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geologi ...

industry as an engineer, he decided to switch careers and proceeded to study

filmmaking Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

writing Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

and directing at AFDA Film School in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and later undertook a course at the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg, colloquially known as UJ, is a public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant fundi ...

in filmmaking.

Career

After quitting his oil and gas job, he became a content producer for NdaniTV. In 2017, he directed a five-minute-long short film titled ''Prey'', which was produced by his newly wedded wife, Toyosi, featuring Tope Tedela and Odenike Odetola. He was featured in 2019 by Bland2Glam in her #thePowerof7 campaign to celebrate her seven years in the

fashion industry Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

. He featured alongside Kenyan actresses

Sarah Hassan Sarah Hassan, O.G.W. (born 5 September 1988) is a Kenyan actress, producer, director and former TV host. She is notable for her roles in television series such as '' Crime and Justice'', ''Tahidi High'',''The Wedding Show'' and '' Zora'' and fi ...

and Catherine Kamau Karanja in the 2019 comedy movie, '' Plan B'' where he played Dele Coker, a Nigerian CEO of a

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

-based company. The movie got him a nomination in the Best Actor in a Comedy (Movie/TV Series) category at the 7th AMVCA awards 2020. He starred in a number of movies in 2020, including a lead role in ''Fish Bone'', produced by Editi Effiong and also starring Shaffy Bello and Moshood Fattah. He was featured alongside Ike Onyema and Atteh 'SirDee' Daniel in the short film ''Storm'', produced by Diane Russet and directed by Michael 'AMA Psalmist' Akinrogunde. Still in 2020, he directed a documentary titled ''Skin'', produced by Beverly Naya. It was slated to be shown on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Filmography

TV shows

Films

Awards and nominations

Personal life

Effiong has been married to Toyosi Etim-Effiong since 4 November 2017. They first met in August 2016 while processing a project. The couple welcomed their first child, a baby girl, in January 2019.

References

External links

Daniel Etim Effiong
on

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Etim Effiong, Daniel Nigerian film directors Nigerian male film actors Living people People from Kaduna State Year of birth missing (living people) Federal University of Technology, Minna alumni University of Johannesburg alumni Nigerian screenwriters Nigerian entertainment industry businesspeople Nigerian chemical engineers