Nigeria is a blessed county with both natural and human resources. But due to some unfortunate circumstances which ranges from bad leadership to corruption, has made the countries populace to migrate to other parts of the world 🗺 to search for greener pastures. Nigerians are scattered all over the world especially in the United States of America. 🇺🇸 Most of them has married there, have kids and naturalised there as well.
Nigerian Americans make up a significant part of African immigration to the United States.
According to American Community Survey (ACS) in 2016 estimated that 380,785 US residents report Nigerian ancestry. And in 2012-2016, ACS estimated that 277,027 American residents were born in Nigeria.
I will not forget to note that the first people of Nigerian ancestry in what is now the modern United States were brought to the Americas by force as slaves from 17th century - 1865.
In all sectors of America's economy, you will find a Nigerian Americans. These people are making waves in politics, engineering, sports, music, movie, journalism, author, etcetera.
In this article, we are going to look at out some famous celebrities in America who actually have Nigerian origin.
1. Wale
Olubowale Victor Akintimehin better known by his stage name Wale is a Nigerian-American rapper. His parents were both from the Yoruba ethnic group of southwestern Nigeria, and both of them came from Austria to the United States in 1979. Wale's family first lived in Northwest, Washington, D.C., and then moved to Montgomery County, when Wale was 10.
In the year 2010, Wale won the Best International Act at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards. Wale has had many collaborations with various artists on the African continent like Phyno.
2. Jidenna
Jidenna Theodore Mobisson (born May 4, 1985), better known mononymously as Jidenna, is a Nigerian-American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer.
Jidenna Theodore Mobisson was born on May 4, 1985 in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, to Tama Mobisson, a Caucasian accountant, and Oliver Mobisson , a Nigerian Igbo academic. Jidenna grew up partially in Nigeria, where his father was working as a professor of computer science at Enugu State University. When Jidenna was 6 years old, the family moved back to the United States.
3. Chamillionaire
Hakeem Seriki better known by his stage name Chamillionaire is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and investor from Houston, Texas.
His father is from Nigeria and the mother is from the United States. His parents split in his early teens, and Chamillionaire settled into a notoriously dangerous inner-city neighborhood in North Houston, which he elaborated upon during an interview with Houston's 104.9 KPTY on October 3. Rap and other forms of secular music, that his parents had highly opposed in their household, became very appealing to the young Hakeem Seriki. Inspired by local rap acts such as The Geto Boys, 8 Ball & MJG, and UGK, as well as other national acts such as N.W.A. and Public Enemy, Chamillionaire began to compose his own rhymes.
4. Gbenga Akinnagbe
Gbenga is an American actor and writer, best known for his roles as Chris Partlow on the HBO series The Wire and as Larry Brown on the HBO series The Deuce.
Akinnagbe was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Yoruba Nigerian parents, and was raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is the second oldest of six children, with one older sister and four younger brothers, and the first in his family to be born in the United States.
Talents in the performing arts must run in his family as Gbenga Akinnagbe is the cousin of Wale, a DC Rapper. Both Akinnagbe and Wale have Nigerian roots.
5. Don Lemon
Don Lemon (born March 1, 1966) is an American television journalist. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he anchored weekend news programs on local television networks in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist. Lemon then worked as a news correspondent for NBC on its programming, such as Today and NBC Nightly News , after which he joined CNN in 2006, also as a correspondent.
He has Creole ancestry, his great-grandfather was of French descent, in addition to Nigerian, Cameroonian, and Congolese ancestry.
6. Adaora Udoji
Adaora Udoji (born December 30, 1967) is a media innovator, producer and investor who produces content at the intersection of emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI).
Udoji is of Nigerian-Irish American descent. Born to father Godfrey Udoji, former chief engineer for the city of Dearborn, Michigan , and mother Mary, former director of Washtenaw County Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan , she has lived on three continents including Africa, Europe and North America, and holds dual American and Irish citizenship.
7. Emeka Okafor
Chukwuemeka Ndubuisi " Emeka " Okafor (born September 28, 1982) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus of the Korean Basketball League (KBL). Okafor attended Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas and the University of Connecticut, where in 2004 he won a national championship. In his first season in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2004/05, Okafor was named Rookie of the Year.
Okafor was born in Houston, Texas . Both of his parents are natives of Nigeria , and Emeka was the first member of his family born in the United States. His father, Pius Okafor, is a member of the Igbo ethnic group.
Okafor's family moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma when he was young because his father worked for Phillips Petroleum Company, headquartered in Bartlesville. While in Bartlesville, Okafor's father took his son to the Bartlesville YMCA to learn the game of basketball.
8. Tosin Abasi
Oluwatosin Ayoyinka Olumide "Tosin" Abasi (born January 7, 1983), is an American musician , best known as the founder and lead guitarist of the instrumental progressive metal band Animals as Leaders.
Tosin Abasi was born in Washington D.C. to Nigerian immigrants to the United States. His brother, Abdul Abasi, is a former drill sergeant in the United States military and is currently a fashion designer.
9.Luvvie Ajayi
Luvvie Ajayi (born January 5, 1985) is a Nigerian-American author, speaker, and digital strategist. Her first book, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual, was a New York Times best-seller.
Luvvie Ajayi was born in Nigeria; she moved to Chicago with her family when she was nine. She attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in Chicago, then the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, studying psychology.
10. Godfrey
Godfrey C. Danchimah, Jr. (born July 21, 1969), professionally known as Godfrey, is an American comedian and actor who has appeared on BET, VH, Comedy Central, and feature films, such as Soul Plane, Original Gangstas, Zoolander, and Johnson Family Vacation.
Godfrey's parents are from Nigeria. Their Nigerian heritage is of the Igbo tribe . They immigrated to the USA to escape the Nigerian Civil War. Godfrey is a nephew of Nigerian musician Sonny Okosun
Nigerian Americans make up a significant part of African immigration to the United States.
According to American Community Survey (ACS) in 2016 estimated that 380,785 US residents report Nigerian ancestry. And in 2012-2016, ACS estimated that 277,027 American residents were born in Nigeria.
I will not forget to note that the first people of Nigerian ancestry in what is now the modern United States were brought to the Americas by force as slaves from 17th century - 1865.
In all sectors of America's economy, you will find a Nigerian Americans. These people are making waves in politics, engineering, sports, music, movie, journalism, author, etcetera.
In this article, we are going to look at out some famous celebrities in America who actually have Nigerian origin.
1. Wale
Olubowale Victor Akintimehin better known by his stage name Wale is a Nigerian-American rapper. His parents were both from the Yoruba ethnic group of southwestern Nigeria, and both of them came from Austria to the United States in 1979. Wale's family first lived in Northwest, Washington, D.C., and then moved to Montgomery County, when Wale was 10.
In the year 2010, Wale won the Best International Act at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards. Wale has had many collaborations with various artists on the African continent like Phyno.
2. Jidenna
Jidenna Theodore Mobisson (born May 4, 1985), better known mononymously as Jidenna, is a Nigerian-American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer.
Jidenna Theodore Mobisson was born on May 4, 1985 in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, to Tama Mobisson, a Caucasian accountant, and Oliver Mobisson , a Nigerian Igbo academic. Jidenna grew up partially in Nigeria, where his father was working as a professor of computer science at Enugu State University. When Jidenna was 6 years old, the family moved back to the United States.
3. Chamillionaire
Hakeem Seriki better known by his stage name Chamillionaire is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and investor from Houston, Texas.
His father is from Nigeria and the mother is from the United States. His parents split in his early teens, and Chamillionaire settled into a notoriously dangerous inner-city neighborhood in North Houston, which he elaborated upon during an interview with Houston's 104.9 KPTY on October 3. Rap and other forms of secular music, that his parents had highly opposed in their household, became very appealing to the young Hakeem Seriki. Inspired by local rap acts such as The Geto Boys, 8 Ball & MJG, and UGK, as well as other national acts such as N.W.A. and Public Enemy, Chamillionaire began to compose his own rhymes.
4. Gbenga Akinnagbe
Gbenga is an American actor and writer, best known for his roles as Chris Partlow on the HBO series The Wire and as Larry Brown on the HBO series The Deuce.
Akinnagbe was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Yoruba Nigerian parents, and was raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is the second oldest of six children, with one older sister and four younger brothers, and the first in his family to be born in the United States.
Talents in the performing arts must run in his family as Gbenga Akinnagbe is the cousin of Wale, a DC Rapper. Both Akinnagbe and Wale have Nigerian roots.
5. Don Lemon
Don Lemon (born March 1, 1966) is an American television journalist. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he anchored weekend news programs on local television networks in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist. Lemon then worked as a news correspondent for NBC on its programming, such as Today and NBC Nightly News , after which he joined CNN in 2006, also as a correspondent.
He has Creole ancestry, his great-grandfather was of French descent, in addition to Nigerian, Cameroonian, and Congolese ancestry.
6. Adaora Udoji
Adaora Udoji (born December 30, 1967) is a media innovator, producer and investor who produces content at the intersection of emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI).
Udoji is of Nigerian-Irish American descent. Born to father Godfrey Udoji, former chief engineer for the city of Dearborn, Michigan , and mother Mary, former director of Washtenaw County Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan , she has lived on three continents including Africa, Europe and North America, and holds dual American and Irish citizenship.
7. Emeka Okafor
Chukwuemeka Ndubuisi " Emeka " Okafor (born September 28, 1982) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus of the Korean Basketball League (KBL). Okafor attended Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas and the University of Connecticut, where in 2004 he won a national championship. In his first season in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2004/05, Okafor was named Rookie of the Year.
Okafor was born in Houston, Texas . Both of his parents are natives of Nigeria , and Emeka was the first member of his family born in the United States. His father, Pius Okafor, is a member of the Igbo ethnic group.
Okafor's family moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma when he was young because his father worked for Phillips Petroleum Company, headquartered in Bartlesville. While in Bartlesville, Okafor's father took his son to the Bartlesville YMCA to learn the game of basketball.
8. Tosin Abasi
Oluwatosin Ayoyinka Olumide "Tosin" Abasi (born January 7, 1983), is an American musician , best known as the founder and lead guitarist of the instrumental progressive metal band Animals as Leaders.
Tosin Abasi was born in Washington D.C. to Nigerian immigrants to the United States. His brother, Abdul Abasi, is a former drill sergeant in the United States military and is currently a fashion designer.
9.Luvvie Ajayi
Luvvie Ajayi (born January 5, 1985) is a Nigerian-American author, speaker, and digital strategist. Her first book, I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual, was a New York Times best-seller.
Luvvie Ajayi was born in Nigeria; she moved to Chicago with her family when she was nine. She attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in Chicago, then the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, studying psychology.
10. Godfrey
Godfrey C. Danchimah, Jr. (born July 21, 1969), professionally known as Godfrey, is an American comedian and actor who has appeared on BET, VH, Comedy Central, and feature films, such as Soul Plane, Original Gangstas, Zoolander, and Johnson Family Vacation.
Godfrey's parents are from Nigeria. Their Nigerian heritage is of the Igbo tribe . They immigrated to the USA to escape the Nigerian Civil War. Godfrey is a nephew of Nigerian musician Sonny Okosun
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