10 Nollywood Actors and Actresses We Want to See in a Drama Film

Nollywood has never had a talent problem; what it sometimes has is a casting problem: the wrong actors in the wrong roles, or the right actors in films that do not ask nearly enough of them. Some of the best performers in Nigerian cinema are sitting in comedies and action films when what they really... Read More Read » 10 Nollywood Actors and Actresses We Want to See in a Drama Film on YNaija

  General   Apr 28, 2026   0   3  Add to Reading List
10 Nollywood Actors and Actresses We Want to See in a Drama Film

Nollywood has never had a talent problem; what it sometimes has is a casting problem: the wrong actors in the wrong roles, or the right actors in films that do not ask nearly enough of them. Some of the best performers in Nigerian cinema are sitting in comedies and action films when what they really need is a slow-burn drama that gives them room to breathe.

These are ten actors and actresses who we believe deserve exactly that.

  1. Chimezie Imo

If you watched Breath of Life, you already know. Chimezie Imo played Elijah in the 2023 Prime Video film and delivered one of the most emotionally raw performances Nollywood has produced in years. He was not even nominated for an AMVCA that year, yet he still left the ceremony with the Trailblazer Award. What he needs now is a full lead role in a film that was written with him in mind.

  1. Nse Ikpe-Etim

Nse has the kind of screen presence that does not demand your attention. It simply has it. She has been one of Nollywood’s finest actresses for years, and the industry knows it, yet the roles that fully centre her remain few. She deserves a film that is built entirely around her: something interior, something that trusts her to carry long stretches of screen time without action or spectacle, just a character working through something real. We would love to see her in that.

  1. Tobi Bakre

His performance as Obalola in Gangs of Lagos was the kind of work that makes you sit up. Before that, Brotherhood. He keeps being handed the brooding, street-hardened character and keeps making it feel different every time. But what happens when you take all of that away? No gang, no violence, no armour. Just a man and a choice he cannot unmake. Tobi Bakre, in a quiet domestic drama with only emotional danger, is a film that practically writes itself, and we are ready for it.

  1. Kehinde Bankole

She won Best Lead Actress at the 2024 AMVCAs for her role in Adire, and every bit of it was earned. Kehinde Bankole has been one of Nollywood’s most consistent and underserved talents for years: present, impressive, and somehow never quite the centre of the story. Adire changed that conversation. The next step is a film written specifically for her, not one she has had to elevate beyond what was on the page.

  1. Shaffy Bello

Shaffy Bello has been doing the work long enough to have a career most actors only dream of. She can be cold; she can be warm, and she can be the unsettling space between both. The roles she has been given in recent years have been decent, but none of them have properly used what she is capable of. A film about a woman reckoning with a life she chose and a life she left behind. 

  1. Chidi Mokeme

After years away, Chidi Mokeme came back through Shanty Town and reminded everyone what they had been missing. Then The Black Book confirmed it. He plays authority and quiet menace like someone who has studied both very carefully. But the drama that would truly test him is not a political thriller. It is something smaller: imagine a father and a son and a marriage that has quietly run out of road. He should be in something that asks him to be vulnerable in ways his villain roles have only ever hinted at.

  1. Bimbo Ademoye

She won her first AMVCA for comedy, which makes complete sense because she is genuinely funny. But funny actors are usually the best dramatic performers, because comedy and drama demand the same precision. You are just landing somewhere different. Her work in Anikulapo showed she could hold her own in something heavy.

  1. Wale Ojo

He won Best Lead Actor at the 2024 AMVCAs for Breath of Life, and watching him in that film, it is easy to understand why we want him in a drama. Wale Ojo operates on a frequency that feels almost too real for the screen. He is understated in the best possible way. He deserves a film that leans into that fully: something stripped back and willing to let silence do some of the work.

  1. Deyemi Okanlawon

Deyemi Okanlawon always looks like he is thinking something he is not saying. In All Is Fair in Love, which he also produced, he showed a quieter, more considered side. We need him in a drama that leans into that; something that puts him in scenes where nothing visible is happening and everything emotional is would be worth watching.

  1. RMD (Richard Mofe-Damijo)

This is not a sentimental mention because of his legacy. RMD in The Black Book was genuinely unsettling in the specific, controlled way of a man who is never not in command of a room. He received the Industry Merit Award at the 2024 AMVCAs, which is well deserved. But what nobody has made yet is a drama that strips him of that power entirely. A man undone by something he cannot fix, no authority to fall back on. That film is still waiting to be made, and we would like to watch it.

These ten have already shown what they can do with ordinary material. Imagine what happens when someone gives them something extraordinary.

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