Omotola Jalade Ekeinde makes the 2013 TIME 100 Icon list

Jay Z, Steven Spielberg, Lebron James, Kate Middleton, Barack Obama…OMOTOLA!

Nollywood Star Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has been named as an Icon on Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World list for 2013. Popularly referred to as Time 100, the list is divided into various sections – Titans, Pioneers, Leaders, Icons and Artists.

Actress, singer, philanthropist, 34
By Richard Corliss
The world’s most productive English-language film industry is not Hollywood but Nollywood. The teeming Nigerian cinema grinds out some 2,500 movies a year, mostly direct-to-DVD quickies mixing melodrama, music and an evangelical Christian spin. (Think Bollywood via Tyler Perry.) Employing a million Nigerians, Nollywood enthralls millions more who come for the thrills, the uplift and the artful agitations of Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde — the Queen of Nollywood.

Called OmoSexy by her fans, she has made 300 or so features, from the 1996 Mortal Inheritance to the 2010 superproduction Ijé, shot partly on location in Los Angeles. Married to an airline pilot she wed on a flight from Lagos to Benin, Jalade-Ekeinde brings a juggler’s grace to her roles as actress, singer, reality-show star, mother of four and philanthropist (the Omotola Youth Empowerment Programme).

Success hasn’t spoiled Africa’s most renowned leading lady. Rather than going Hollywood, Omotola wants to stay Nollywood.

Corliss is TIME’s movie critic

Omotola has been recognized as an Icon on the list. President of Malawi Joyce Banda was also recognized in the Leaders category.
Congrats!