Age & Career Of Ufuoma McDermott

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Age & Career Of Ufuoma McDermott

Ufuoma Stacey McDermott, widely known as Ejenobor is a veteran Nigerian actress, film maker and former model.

She was born on the 23rd of April, 1981 in Benin City to the parents from Delta State in south southern Nigeria. She moved from Benin City to Jos, where she spent her early years, and later to Lagos, where she has lived till date.

At the age of seven, her father coined a pet name for her: ISIO which means “star” in Urhobo. This, many believe is a follow-up to her emerging success in life today. She was named after the star actress of the TELEFEST programme put together by NTA Benin, “The Pot of Life”.

Ufuoma has achieved a lot in the entertainment industry. The countless achievements are as follow:

Educational Background

She attended Alama Private School Jos, Plateau state, Tunwase Nursery and primary school Ikeja, Lagos and finally Molly International Nursery and primary Ajao Estate for her nursery and primary education. She then attended Federal Government College, Odogbolu, Ogun State and obtained her secondary school certificate.

Ufuoma later bagged a degree in French language from the University of Lagos. She partook in a Federal Government scholarship holiday programme.

She also has Certificates and Diplomas from Alliance Française and NIIT. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public and International Affairs, also from the University of Lagos.

In 2011, the Nollywood entertainment Colossus attended New York Film Academy in Los Angeles for an acting course and later on a film making course from Dov Simen’s Hollywood Film Institute.

In 2013, she obtained a certificate in Human resource management from the London Business School.

In Summer 2015, she was part of the Relativity Education program from Nigeria, owned by Relativity Media in Beverly Hills.

Entertainment

Ufuoma kick-started her career in entertainment as a model, modelling in 2000 as a photographic model and later moved on to beauty pageants.

Pageants

By 2002, she participated in two mini-pageants, and emerged the winner of the Miss Ebony beauty pageant. She also partook in her first national pageant, Miss Commonwealth (Vanessa Ekeke), where she won the Miss Congeniality prize. Later the same year, she emerged 1st runner up in the Queen Afrik Beauty Pageant (Tamilore Kuboye).

2003 saw Ufuoma in the Queen of all Nations Beauty Pageant (Dubra Fufeyin) where she also made it as the 1st runner up.

In 2004, the epitome of beauty contested in the Miss Nigeria beauty pageant, emerged yet 1st runner up and consequently went to represent Nigeria at the Miss Earth 2004.

Her Acting Career

Ufuoma made her entry in Nollywood in February 2004. She began acting with Zeb Ejiro’s “The President Must Not Die”. She has since starred in several movies.

In May 2005, she played her first lead role in Life and Death, her third movie after The President Must Not Die and Guy on the Line.

The Veteran Ufuoma has featured in over 200 Nollywood movies, some of which include:

• 2004 The President Must Not Die

• 2004 Life Partner

• 2005 Life and Death

• 2005 Missed Love

• 2005 Unknown Angel

• 2006 One Chance

• 2006 Honey Desire

• 2007 Saving Sarah

• 2008 Dance Partner

• 2010 Wise In-Law

• 2010 Private Storm

• 2015 Okoro the Prince

• 2015 Hear Word

• 2016 Wives on Strike and several others.

By December 2005, she played Chibuzor on the Edge of Paradise TV series produced by Royal Roots Network.

In 2008 she took on the role of “Lillian Wright” in the TV series My Mum and I, a movie role that shot her to fame and recognition in Nollywood and earned her nomination for best actress award at the 2010 Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo and one at The Terracotta Nigerian TV and Film Awards.

She was also a nominee as the Actor of the year 2011 at the Future Awards.

In January 2018, McDermott has featured in as “Mama Baby”, “Women Call Leader” and “Sister Esther” in the stage production,at Harvard and was staged at the prestigious American Repertory theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.SA.

The plays which address issues against women in the society made its debut in Lagos, Nigeria in 2014. It also featured the great talents of Joke Silva, Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett and Bimbo Akintola.

In August, 2019 Ufuoma, Joke Silva, Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett and other cast members performed at the Royal Lyceum, in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Guardian UK, in its review of the show described it as “at once tough and inspirational”.

In July 2019, Ufuoma also put together a live-theater experience at the Eko Hotel and Towers in Lagos, tagged “The USM Show with Ufuoma McDermott”. The event was full of live music, dance performances and a debut of her stage production “The Magic of a Dream”.

The Magic of a Dream was directed by Toritseju Ejoh and featured acting performances from several notable Nigerian thespians including Femi Branch, Chioma Akpotha, Offiong Anthony (Thin Tall Tony), Akah Nnani and Zara Udofia-Ejoh. The USM Show also featured live musical and comedy performances from a range of Nigerian entertainers, including, Teni the entertainer, Seyi Law and MC Abbey.

Awards

• Go Red Africa, 2007 Best Female Model at the Go Red Africa Award.

• African Youth Society, 2009 Role Model Award at the African Youth Society.

• Best Actress nominee – Golden Nymph Awards 2010 (Monte Carlo Television Festival)

• 2011 Best Actress in a TV series Nominee at the Nigerian Entertainment Awards.

• Actor of the Year 2011 Nominee- The Future Awards

• Best Actress in a Drama series nominee, Terracotta TV and Film Awards

• McDermott was a speaker at TEDx Rayfield, which held in December 2017

Pageant

2001 Winner of Miss Ebony

2002 1st Runner up, Queen Afrik

2002 Miss Congeniality Miss Commonwealth

2004 Winner of Miss Earth Nigeria

2004 1st Runner of Miss Nigeria

Her Personal life

Ufuoma got married to Steven McDermott on 23rd April, 2010. She officially changed her name to Ufuoma McDermott on 23 May 2014 at a Lagos high court.

Her Net Worth

Ufuoma McDermott is indeed a strong pillar of Nollywood, rated one of the richest and most influential with an estimated net worth of $1 million dollars.