Ebele Okaro Onyiuke (born 19 January 1964) is a Nigerian

actress 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 producer.

Early life and education

Ebele Okaro was born on 19 January 1964 in London and raised in

Enugu State Enugu () verbally pronounced as "Enụgwụ" by the Igbo indigenes is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by the states of Benue and Kogi, Ebonyi State to the east and southeast, Abia State to the so ...

, southeastern part of Nigeria. She began acting while attending the Santa Maria Primary School and continued while at

Nsukka Nsukka is a town and a Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria. Nsukka shares a common border as a town with Edem, Opi (archaeological site), Ede-Oballa, and Obimo. The postal code of the area is 410001 and 410002 respectively, re ...

's Queen of the Holy Rosary Secondary School where she wrote her Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE). Initially she began her studies in education at the

University of Calabar The University of Calabar is a federal university situated in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. It is one of Nigeria's second-generation federal universities. The University of Calabar was a campus of the University of Nigeria until 1975. ...

(Unical),

Cross River State Cross River State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named for the Cross River, the state was formed from the eastern part of the Eastern Region on 27 May 1967. The state has its capital as Calabar and is bordered to ...

, in the southern region of Nigeria, but later discovered that her passion was for the

dramatic arts Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been c ...

, leading her to earn a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

Theatre Arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communic ...

. Okaro's mother is a

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

and her father, an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

who also has great interest in arts and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

Career

After graduating from university, Okaro served her National Youth Service at the

Nigerian Television Authority The Nigerian Television Authority or NTA is a Nigerian government-owned and partly commercial broadcast station. Originally known as Nigerian Television (NTV), it was inaugurated in 1977 with a monopoly on national television broadcasting, after ...

(NTA), where she made some television appearances. However, after the Youth Service, she worked with an embassy in Lagos and later in a bank before returning to acting in the Nigerian movie industry (known as

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 ...

). In 2014, Okaro produced and acted in '' Musical Whispers'', a movie that advocates for loving care for children with

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

. It featured other prominent Nigerian actors, most notably

Chioma Chukwuka Chioma Chukwuka (born March 12, 1980, also credited as Chioma Chukwuka Akpotha or Chioma Akpotha) is a Nigerian actress, director and movie producer. In 2007, she won the Africa Movie Academy Award for "Best Actress in a leading role" for her p ...

and

Kalu Ikeagwu Kalu Egbui Ikeagwu is a British-Nigerian actor and writer. As an actor, he has received several awards and nominations for his performances on screen. Early life Kalu was born in England but was relocated to Nigeria by his dad at the age of 9 ...

. She has become known as the "Mama of Nollywood" and has earned the respect of both fans and colleagues. Ebele always knew she wanted to become an actress. Although she left acting for a short time when there was a huge decline in the Nigeria Movie Industry. It led her to earn a living somewhere else. She worked at an embassy in Lagos and also took up a Banking job at the time but when back to acting when things got better.

Personal life

She married into the Onyiuke family.

Awards and nominations

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Okaro, Ebele Living people University of Calabar alumni Igbo actresses 1964 births Nigerian film actresses Nigerian film producers Actors from Enugu State Nigerian women film producers Nigerian women film directors 21st-century Nigerian actresses Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards winners Nigerian film directors