Chinenye Okwudili Balogun may not be known to many but her
accomplishments speak volume as a lady. See excerpts from Yoruba Movie Gist’s profile of her below:
Imagine at a
tender age in 2005, she emerged as the Teenager of the Year with her
novel titled, LONELY HEART. While in the High School she was adjudged
the best actress in all drama competitions and at that time she had
established a drama club, the STARS.
Not
too long after her secondary education, she began to feature in big
television dramas and soap operas. Even as a married woman, Neye, as she
is fondly called has continued to do what she knows how to do best. She
sits atop a production company called TFC Productions based in Orlando,
Florida, USA. The company is now set to storm the Nollywood with a
world class movie, ‘All the Right Reasons’ in April.
According to the
budding actress cum producer, ‘My journey into the creative industry
started from my early years in life when I was seven years old. Then, I
would gather my siblings and tell them folklores, most of which I
created. Soon, it grew to including other children in the neighbourhood
to hear my stories. As I got into the high school, from my JSS 1, I
began to write and compile my stories and distribute them to classmates
and friends who cared to read. I wrote numerous poems while in school
and won several awards. I was a very active member in the drama
department and ultimately represented the school in various
competitions. I graduated from the high school winning awards as the
best actress. While in SSS2, I wrote a novel titled ‘Lonely Hearts,’ the
novel got me the ’Teenager of The Year 2005’ award, organized by the
Teens Resource Centre in Lagos state. I can recall that was published in
major Nigerian newspapers. Later, I moved from school and club dramas
to my first TV soap, ‘Arrested Intelligence.’”
Chinenye, who hails from
of Ideato North local Government in Imo state was born in Jos but spent
the better part of her childhood in Lagos with her parent said while in
the University of Jos studying Law, she featured in her first big screen
film, SITANDA sponsored by Amstel Box Office. ‘’ Combining all I was
doing with my academics wasn’t easy, I remember shooting the Soap Opera
Tinsel while I was writing my 400 Level Law exams.
I
would write a paper in the morning, catch the next bus to Lagos in the
afternoon, do my scenes for the day, and get on the next bus back to
Ibadan while reading for my examinations. I was fulfilling my dreams,
making a living for myself and ultimately keeping up a high GPA’ she
enthused.
While in school I met my husband when he came to visit one of
the students he assisted, he tried to give me a ride with his flashy
Mercedes Benz G55 AMG, but I refused his allures, he parked his jeep and
started walking with me from the school gate all the way to my
department which is quite a long distance. Little did I know he was soon
to become the father of my beautiful princess. After my tertiary
education, I relocated to join my husband in the US, where I decided to
further my studies in Keiser University Florida and then went ahead to
open a film production company, TFC PRODUCTIONS LIMITED, which was
incorporated in July 2015 in Orlando, Florida, and recently completed
the production of my first film “All the Right Reasons,” which would be
hitting the cinemas soon.
