Between Charlize Theron And Genevieve Nnaji

GENEVIEVE NNAJI
Genevieve Nnaji is a household name in most homes in Africa for her exciting and thrilling performances in Nigerian movies and she has won the African Academy of Movies Award for the Best Actress in Africa. But, can you compare her to Charlize Theron the sultry South African World Class actress celebrated in the Western world?
Of course, Charlize Theron does not know who is Genevieve Nnaji. But Genevieve Nnaji knows who is Charlize Theron. But can we call Charlize Theron an African Beauty?
Well, an African beauty is an African beauty no matter the colour, class or creed.
CHARLIZE THERON WITH HER OSCAR.
Actress - filmography
(In Production) (2000s) (1990s)
The Ice at the Bottom of the World (2006) (announced)
The Brazilian Job (2006) (pre-production) .... Stella Bridger
Aeon Flux (2005) .... Aeon Flux
North Country (2005) .... Josey Aimes
Head in the Clouds (2004) .... Gilda Bessé
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) .... Britt Ekland
Monster (2003) .... Aileen
The Italian Job (2003) .... Stella Bridger
... aka Braquage à l'italienne (France)
Waking Up in Reno (2002) .... Candy Kirkendall
Trapped (2002) .... Karen Jennings
... aka 24 Stunden Angst (Germany)
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) .... Laura Kensington
... aka Im Bann des Jade Skorpions (Germany)
15 Minutes (2001) .... Rose Hearn
... aka 15 Minuten Ruhm (Germany)
Sweet November (2001) .... Sara Deever
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) .... Adele Invergordon
Men of Honor (2000) .... Gwen Sunday
... aka Men of Honour (UK)
The Yards (2000) .... Erica Stoltz
Reindeer Games (2000) .... Ashley Mercer
... aka Deception (UK) (USA: working title)
The Cider House Rules (1999) .... Candy Kendall
The Astronaut's Wife (1999) .... Jillian Armacost
Mighty Joe Young (1998) .... Jill Young
... aka Mighty Joe (UK)
Celebrity (1998) .... Supermodel
The Devil's Advocate (1997) .... Mary Ann Lomax
... aka Devil's Advocate (USA: DVD box title)
... aka Im Auftrag des Teufels (Germany)
Trial and Error (1997) .... Billie Tyler
Hollywood Confidential (1997) (TV) .... Sally
That Thing You Do! (1996) .... Tina
2 Days in the Valley (1996) .... Helga Svelgen
Children of the Corn III (1995) (uncredited) .... Young
CHARLIZE THERON
Charlize Theron does not need any introduction in Hollywood with an Oscar, Golden Globe and other highly coveted awards in her kitty for her laudable and remarkable accomplishments in acting leading roles in several box office best selling films.
Charlize Theron Awards
2004 Academy Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
2004 Silver Berlin Bear Best Actress
2004 BFCA Award Best Actress
2004 CFCA Award Best Actress
2004 DFWFCA Award Best Actress
2004 Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
2004 Golden Satellite Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
2004 Independent Spirit Award Best First Feature
2004 Independent Spirit Award Best Female Lead
2004 Sierra Award Best Actress
2004 NSFC Award Best Actress
2004 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2004 VFCC Award Best Actress
2003 NBR Award Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress
2003 SFFCC Award Best Actress
2000 Bambi Shooting Star: Female
GENEVIEVE NNAJI
Genevieve Nnaji's most popular movies include "Honey 1& Honey 2","For Better For Worse 1& 2" and over 200 other titles. But there is no official filmography. Because, even Genevieve Nnaji cannot recall all the movies she acted. And you cannot blame her. The Nigerian movies are mass produced and what Charlize Theron earns in one year could be used to produce over 30 Nigerian movies within 10 months.

Charlize Theron is the fantasy of Genevieve Nnaji and the ultimate dream of every actress coming up in Nigerian Nollywood, Indian Bollywood and the other woods.

Linda Ikeji: No Regrets Modeling

I had a special feature on Fashion, Modeling and Beauty (FM&B) Magazine in the Comet newspaper of Nigeria and I want to share it with you. Enjoy.

Linda Ikeji: No regrets being a model
MODELING star, Linda Ikeji was relaxing with a friend five years ago when a radio jingle cut short their discussion. It was the SilverBird International Fashion Show jingles calling for application as a model.She and her friend debated whether to apply or not. Linda had just then been offered a university admission. It was thus a battle on the way forward for days.The love for the model job which has always arrested her attention from childhood, won the day.Indeed that timely decision has since shaped Linda’s modeling and entertainment career.

She was one of the models discovered during the show.Her name thereafter became synonymous with different brands.She is set to give back a part of what the society and modeling have offered her.She wants to be a publisher. In the next few weeks, her magazine Fashion Model and Beauty, will be on the newsstand.According to Linda, the eye-popping colour magazine is her contribution to the industry that launched her to fame and wealth.

She hopes the magazine will create a platform for international and local modeling and fashion markets to thrive. To the Imo indigene, the magazine “is a dream fulfilled” as she had always wanted to contribute to the fashion, modeling and beauty sectors.“This grand effort is a dream fulfilled as I have contemplated a long time ago of how to contribute my quota to the modeling industry”, she said.The glossy magazine will celebrate the nation’s topmost fashion designers, milliners, beauticians, photographers, style writers among others. It will be circulated in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

Linda believes that the magazine will bridge the gap between Nigeria and UK in the areas of its focus. “This is geared towards keeping the two countries abreast of the current trend in each country”.Linda is optimistic that the magazine will add something new to Nigerian journalism. The glossy, colourful nature of the paper will create excitement in the industry. It promises aesthetic beauty and rich content to compete with papers in UK”, she said.

Embarking on such gigantic project of publishing such colourful paper will involve huge sums of money and lots of encouragement. Where are all these coming?According to her, several people have given her the push to soldier on. She recalled how she went through thick and thin to bring the vision to friction.“I never relented in working on the vision to achieve reality”.She confessed garnering sufficient experience to propel her to any height she seeks to attain.

Linda who said modeling is fun and excitement, stressed that the job has earned her respect among notable people across the world. the English graduate from the University of Lagos, who said she began modeling in her first year at the ivory tower, recalled how in the early years in the business, she received anonymous calls threatening her not to take one job or the other.She said her greatest assets are her pair of legs. Indeed, her legs have taken her to the highest pinnacle of a career, where straight, smooth legs are complements.

“Modeling is about having the right body make up to fit into the brand an advertiser wants to portray. You must fit that particular product, otherwise there will be a mismatch”. A daughter of Roman Catholic parents, Linda said her faith almost scuttled her desire to become a model. At the early stages, people in the church complained of the clothes she wore on stage, especially as some of the programmes were shown live on television. But she weathered the storm, believing that she was doing a job.

“My father gave me all the encouragement I needed, at the beginning, to forge ahead. My mother was not all that disposed to it. She had her reservations”Seven years on, she says one must be focused no matter the distraction.Linda had worked for top designers. The list includes Tiffany, Amber, Dakova, Labannella, Mudi, Mon-Ami and Kesse Jabari.She has also featured in many fashion shows, including Silver Bird Fashion Show 2001 and Ecofest. She has won the Model of the Year Award and PABHA 2001.

Linda has graced the billboards, posters, calendars, newspaper and TV advertisements of MTN, apple Cosmetics, First Atlantic Bank and MTEL, among others.She is the Chief Executive Officer of Black Dove Communication Limited, a flourishing event and modeling agency based in Yaba, Lagos. She has no regrets being a model because it has brought her fame, wealth and affection.“No, I cannot lie, modeling has brought me money and popularity. Anywhere I go, I am easily recognized in the crowd”.

She said her diversification into publishing will enable many people get jobs. This is my contribution to the society which has offered me a lot”, she said.She said she is prepared to settle down when the right man, who should be generous, comes along.She advised up coming models to be committed and focused in their vision, no matter the obstacles on the way.“Many people have a misconception about models. But that is not all to it. People just judge you on appearance. This is not fair”, she noted. She loves relaxing a lot, especially with her siblings.

http://www.cometnewsonline.com/linda.html

Abba Babbi: Guardian of African Beauties

ABBA BABBI

Abba Babbi is a quiet Nigerian artist and writer who recorded his first song in 1984 in the US. And did not record another song until 2003. He performs only by special request.

He is currently based in Lagos, Nigeria.

He is a lover of beauty and has discovered and promoted several Nigerian models.
He is still a good director of modeling careers. And his models love him, because he is very disciplined and generous. He is the guardian of over ten female models.

Welcome to Our World of Fashion, Modeling and Beauty

Welcome to our beautiful and wonderful world of Fashion, Modeling and Beauty.

Join us to celebrate the icons of modern fahion, modeling and beauty and how we can appreciate the beautiful and wonderful gifts of life to make our world a better place for everyone. You and I and everybody.

My name is Linda Ikeji and I am the CEO of Black Dove Models and the Publisher of Fashion, Modeling & Beauty (FM&B) Magazine.

I am not new in the Internet. Because, I have granted interviews to Norimitsu Onishi New York Times October 3, 2002 and recently Orikinla Osinachi of http://kissesandroses.blogspot.com published a feature on me as the "Highest Paid Model in Nigeria". And I am really flattered.

Well you can read the full story by Norimitsu Onishi, because it says a lot about what FM&B Magazine will be publishing as we go on as partners in progress.

Enjoy.

Globalization of Beauty Makes Slimness Trendy

by Norimitsu Onishi New York Times October 3, 2002.

With no success, Nigeria had been sending contestants to the Miss World pageant for years. Winners of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria went year after year to the Miss World competition, and year after year the beauty queens performed remarkably poorly.

Guy Murray-Bruce, the executive director of Silverbird Productions, which runs the Most Beautiful Girl contest, said he had almost resigned himself to the fact that black African women had little chance of winning an international competition in a world dominated by Western beauty ideals.

Then in 2000 he carried out a drastic change of strategy in picking the Most Beautiful Girl and Nigeria's next international representative.
"The judges had always looked for a local queen, someone they considered a beautiful African woman," Mr. Murray-Bruce, 38, said. "So I told the judges not to look for a local queen, but someone to represent us internationally."

The new strategy's success was immediate. The Most Beautiful Girl of 2001, Agbani Darego, went on to clinch the Miss World title in Sun City, South Africa, last October. She became the first African winner in the contest's 51-year history.

Her victory stunned Nigerians, whose country had earned a worldwide reputation for corruption and fraud. Now, all of a sudden, Nigeria was No. 1 in beautiful women. Ms. Darego, who was 18 at the time, instantly became a national heroine. But soon pride gave way to puzzlement. In a culture where Coca-Cola-bottle voluptuousness is celebrated and ample backsides and bosoms are considered ideals of female beauty, the new Miss World shared none of those attributes. She was 6 feet tall, stately and so, so skinny. She was, some said uncharitably, a white girl in black skin.

The perverse reality was that most Nigerians, especially those over 40, did not find the new Miss World particularly beautiful. The story does not end there, though. In the year since her victory, a social transformation has begun to take hold across this nation, Africa's most populous. The change is an example of the power of Western culture on a continent caught between tradition and modernity. Older Nigerians' views of beauty have not changed. But among young, fashionable Nigerians, voluptuousness is out and thin is in.

"After Agbani won, girls look up to me and ask me how to get slim," said Linda Ikeji, 22, an English major at the University of Lagos.
"Before, fat girls were the rave of the moment," said Ms. Ikeji, who is 5 feet 8, weighs 130 pounds and now finds work as a part-time model. "Some fat girls thought they had an advantage over me. But Agbani changed everything."

Here in Lagos, the commercial capital, the thin "It" girls are now called lepa, using a Yoruba word that means thin but that was not applied to people before. The lepa girl has had a popular song written about her, called simply "Lepa." Nigeria's booming film industry has capitalized on the trend by producing a movie, "Lepa Shandi"; the title means a girl as slim as a 20-naira bill. To anyone who has traveled across the continent, especially in West and Central Africa, the cultural shift is striking. In the United States slimness may be an ideal, but many ethnic groups in this region hold festivals celebrating big women. In Niger many women take livestock feed or vitamins to bulk up.

Among the Calabari people in southeastern Nigeria, fat has traditionally held a cherished place. Before their weddings, brides are sent to fattening farms, where their caretakers feed them huge amounts of food and massage them into rounder shapes. After weeks inside the fattening farms, the big brides are finally let out and paraded in the village square.

Ms. Darego, the same Miss World who has helped change young Nigerians' perception of beauty, belongs to the Calabari ethnic group — and thus may seem particularly unattractive to her own people. "If she was in a crowd of other African women, I wouldn't regard her as a beautiful woman," said Ken Calebs-Olumese, who does not belong to that ethnic group but, as the owner of the exclusive Coliseum nightclub here, knows beautiful women.
"The average African woman is robust, has big hips, a lot of bust," he said. "That's what she offers in terms of beauty. It's in our culture." Mr. Calebs-Olumese, who is 56, drew a blank at the mention of lepa. Still, he acknowledged that he was "speaking from my generation's perspective."

While the transformation in youthful tastes was linked to the Miss World victory, it started, some said, with an earlier event.

In 1998, M-Net, the South African network seen across Africa on satellite television, opened a search for the "Face of Africa." The winner was promised a three-year, $150,000 modeling contract with the Elite agency in New York. Not surprisingly, M-Net, which shows mostly American movies and TV shows, chose a skinny, 6-foot-2 teenager from Lagos, Oluchi Onweagba, who was not considered particularly pretty here but became a hit on the runways.
"That was the start," said Frank Osodi, 36, a fashion designer whose studio in the Surulere district in Lagos was a hive for models and beauty queens one recent morning. "Before, if you were thin, people thought you were sick, like an AIDS patient. Now if you have a skinny member in your family, you don't have to be ashamed."

Indeed, parents are now urging their daughters to take part in beauty pageants. In the past, the Most Beautiful Girl competition drew just enough contestants to hold a pageant, Mr. Murray-Bruce said. For the 2001 contest there were only 40; this year there were 400.

No one is predicting whether the youthful preference for thinness represents a fad or a lasting cultural change. But Maureen and Mary-Jane Mekowulu, slim 18-year-old twins who are students at the University of Nsukka in southeastern Nigeria and were visiting their parents here, said they would continue to exercise every morning and abstain from eating after 6 p.m.
"Because of Agbani, people have realized that slim is beautiful," Maureen said of the Miss World. And the Most Beautiful Girl of 2002 would reinforce that impression, said the contest's producer, Mr. Murray-Bruce. "She's even skinnier than Agbani," he said.

Surma The African Maiden

This is the grown up Surma beauty from Ethiopia.

As an artist who has done studies in anatomy, I don't see anything offensive in the natural depiction of this native maiden who in most cases go topless even in our villages in Africa.

THE PHOTOGRAPH IS NOT PORNOGRAPHIC.
She is not even erotic.

She is classic and exotic.

This native maiden should be recommended for international modeling career. She is a classic black beauty.

She reminds me of my ex-girlfriend Chinwe the first time I saw her topless.

I am saving the picture as a screensaver.

The Surma tribe is a very unique ethnic group in Africa.
They have some unusual cultural practices.
Seeing is believing!