Genevieve Nnaji Reveals Why She Turned Down The American Film Industry

Legendary actor Genevieve Nnaji has revealed that she turned down an opportunity to join the American film industry in Hollywood because she believes that Nollywood could match up to its standard.

The Lion Heart actor was a panelist at the 2024 AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum/Afreximbank Annual Meetings, where she said that contributing to the growth of Nollywood was a motivation to stay back instead of moving to Hollywood.

“I could have gone to Hollywood a long time if I wanted to,” she said.

“But I had a dream to build an industry in Nigeria that could rival it. That’s because I’ve always believed in that.

“I have always believed that we were capable of actually owning an industry like that that told our story for our people. I wanted that.

“I respect what Hollywood is doing. I respect what Bollywood is doing, and I felt like Nollywood had an equal chance at it.”

Related: Nollywood Star Labels Genevieve Nnaji A ‘Great Person’

The thespian also narrated how she was treated as a commodity in Hollywood after the success of her 2018 film, Lion Heart, which was rumoured to have been bought for $3.8 million by Netflix.

“For the first time, I realised I was a commodity. I thought, you know, given what I had done with Lionheart and all of that, I was going to have an opportunity to do more… That was not quite the case,” she narrated.

“They wanted what I had, but for their benefit. It was all about their story.

“It was all about how, even if it was our story, I could make it more authentic to their own understanding of whatever Africa is because they did have a lot of literature in their archives.”

Genevieve has been off the screen for a while and has yet to disclose if she is working on another production.