Meg Otanwa (born 14 February) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

actress and former banker. She had her

Nollywood Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in ''The New York Times''. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there ...

debut in 2011 in the film, ''I'll Take My Chances'' and had featured in films such as ''

October 1 Events Pre-1600 * 331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. * 366 – Pope Damasus I is consecrated. * 959 – Edgar the Peaceful becomes king of all England, in succession to Eadwig. ...

'' (2018), ''

Ojuju ''Ojuju'' is a 2014 Nigerian zombie thriller film, written and directed by C.J. Obasi. The film which has a zero-budget, stars Gabriel Afolayan, Omowunmi Dada, and Kelechi Udegbe. It premiered at the 4th Africa International Film Festival, wh ...

'' (2014), ''Kpians: The Feast of Souls'' (2014) and many others. She was the November 2006 cover star of ''Zen'' magazine.

Life and education

Otanwa hails from the Idoma speaking area of

Benue State Benue State is one of the North Central states in Nigeria with a population of about 4,253,641 in 2006 census. The state was created in 1976 among the 7 states created at that time.The state derives its name from the Benue River which is t ...

, Nigeria, growing up partly in

Lagos Lagos ( Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 f ...

. She comes from a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

family and speaks about five languages including English,

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba consti ...

, French,

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also ...

, her mother tongue Idoma and some Spanish. She is a graduate of

Ahmadu Bello University Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is a federal government research university in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. ABU was founded on 4 October 1962, as the pioneer university in Northern Nigeria. It was founded and named after the Sardauna of Sokoto, ...

Zaria Zaria is a metropolitan city in Nigeria which at the present time lies within four (4) local government areas in Kaduna state; it happens to be the capital city to the Zazzau Emirate Council, and one of the original seven Hausa city-states ...

where she obtained a

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

in English language, then proceeded to obtain a master’s degree in

Human Resources Management Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, an ...

at TIME University,

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, Tunisia and afterwards, for a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accou ...

degree at

Jean Moulin University The Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 (french: link=no, Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3), also referred to as Lyon 3, is one of the three public universities of Lyon, France. It is named after the French Resistance fighter Jean Moulin and specialise ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

, France.

Career

Having worked for a long period at the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a development finance institution, multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African gove ...

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, Tunisia, Otanwa resigned and picked up a career in acting, making her

debut in 2011, featuring in the dance drama film by

Emem Isong Emem Isong is a Nigerian screenwriter, film producer, and film director. She has become known primarily for films in the English language, and is a dominant figure in the Nollywood industry. Her second directed feature, '' Code of Silence'', w ...

, ''Ill Take My Chance''. In 2014, she was starred in

Kunle Afolayan Kunle Afolayan (born 30 September 1975) is a Nigerian actor, producer and director. He is widely credited for elevating the quality of Nollywood movies though larger budgets, shooting on 35mm, releasing in cinemas, and improving cliché Nollywo ...

's film, ''

''; in Bodunrin Sasore's drama series, '' Before 30'', starring as "Aisha"; and in

Charles Novia Charles Osa Igbinovia (born 20 November 1971), commonly known as Charles Novia, is a Nigerian film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, social commentator and essayist. Born and raised in Benin City, the capital of Edo State, Novia is known fo ...

's film, ''Atlanta''. She was starred in the 2016

Africa Magic Africa Magic is a collection of Pay TV entertainment channels that focus on African programming, most popularly Nigerian series and movies. ''Africa Magic'', which started off as single channel of the same name, is a brand owned by M-Net and no ...

's debut

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ( ...

, Nollywood's ''Hush'', as "Koko Ogunbiade". Also featured are

Richard Mofe Damijo Richard Eyimofe Evans Mofe-Damijo (born 6 July 1961), popularly known as RMD, is a Nigerian actor, writer, producer, lawyer, and former journalist. He was also a former Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in Delta State in 2009. In 2005, he wo ...

, Thelma Okoduwa and Rotimi Adelegan. She got nominated at the 2017 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards for the ''Best Actress in a Drama'' category and the AMVCA recognition award for MNET original series, which she won, for her role in the thriller telenovela, ''Hush''. The actress was also present at the red carpet of the 2018 event. In the 2018 Tosin Igho film titled, ''The Eve'', she was starred as "Alero", acting alongside actors and actresses like

Beverly Naya Beverly Naya (born Beverly Ifunaya Bassey; 17 April 1989) is a British-born Nigerian actress. Beverly won Most Promising Talent at the 2010 Best of Nollywood Awards. She also won the award for Fast Rising Actress at the 2011 City People Entert ...

, Hauwa Allhabura,

John Okafor John Ikechukwu Okafor, (born 17 October 1961) popularly known as Mr. Ibu, is a Nigerian actor and comedian. Okafor is considered to be one of Nigeria's most talented and highly paid comic characters. His humorous acting is often characterized by ...

and others. In the 2020 film, ''

For Maria Ebun Pataki ''For Maria Ebun Pataki'' is a 2020 drama film directed by Damilola Orimogunje. It features Meg Otanwa and Gabriel Afolayan in the leading roles. The film explores post-partum depression and was filmed in Yoruba language with English language ...

'', directed by Damilola Orimogunje, she was starred as "Derin". She was featured as "Angela" in Dimeji Ajibola's sci-fi thriller, '' Ratnik'', which was released on 1 December 2020 also featuring

Osas Ighodaro Osas Ighodaro (Osariemen Martha Elizabeth Ighodaro; born 26 October) is a Nigerian American actress, producer, host and humanitarian. She won the Miss Black USA Pageant in 2010, and founded the Joyful Joy Foundation, an initiative that raises ...

Tope Tedela Temitope Christopher Tedela (born 5 June 1990) is a Nigerian actor and producer. He has received several awards for his work including Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award, Nigeria Entertainment Award, Best of Nollywood Award and Nollywood Mo ...

, Karibi Fubara, Paul Utomi and others.

Filmatography

Accolades

References

External links

Meg Otanwa
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...

Meg Otanwa
on Bella Naija Style
Meg Otanwa
on Lonny
Meg Otanwa
on

Meg Otanwa: Five Facts About The Rising Star
on HeavyNG {{DEFAULTSORT:Otanwa, Meg Living people People from Benue State Ahmadu Bello University alumni Nigerian bankers 21st-century Nigerian actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Nigerian film actresses Actresses from Benue State Actresses in Yoruba cinema