Akindele rose to prominence after starring in the sitcom I Need to Know from 1998 to 2002. In 2009, she won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her role in Jenifa, which propelled her to fame. It is no surprise that Funke reprised the role in the 2011 sequel The Return of Jenifa and the 2015 television series Jenifa’s Diary, for which she won Best Actress in a Comedy at the 2016 and 2017 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards.
Akindele won the same award in 2020 and 2022, giving her five wins in the Best Actress in a Comedy category. In 2024, her film A Tribe Called Judah became the highest grossing Nigerian film of all time, breaking the previous record set by her film Battle on Buka Street.
Funke Akindele has won the most awards, including the AMVCA and Nigeria Entertainment Awards. She produced and directed the three highest-grossing Nollywood films of all time: A Tribe Called Judah, Battle on Buka Street, and Omo Ghetto: The Saga.
Akindele is the most nominated actress and filmmaker at the AMVCA and currently owns six wins which makes her the actress with the most wins. She is the second director to gross over a billion naira at the Nigeria box office and currently the Highest grossing Nigerian Director in Nigerian Box Office with a total Gross of over 2.9 Billion Naira.
She recently announced her new movie Everybody Loves Jenifa, for December and fans expect nothing but the best from her given her reputation and track record. The movie is rumored to feature the likes of Layi Wasabi, Falz and more. In April, she teased the return of her most successful franchise and there has been a steady build up of publicity leading to its December 13 release.
Directed by Funke Akindele and Tunde Olaoye, this project continues her tradition of blockbuster December releases. The anticipation is high, with many wondering if Everybody Loves Jenifa will surpass the success of last year’s A Tribe Called Judah and once again reignite the cinema-going experience. Filming took place in Lagos and Accra with a crew of 175 members, working over the span of nine weeks.
The film will see the return of fan favorites like Falz, Omotunde ‘Lolo’ Adebowale-David, and Olayode Juliana, along with new faces such as Chimezie Imo, Layi Wasabi, Bisola Aiyeola, Jackie Appiah, and Omowunmi Dada.
