Why I Refused To Join Hollywood— Genevieve Nnaji

Nigerian actress and producer, Genevieve Nnaji has opened up about why she turned down opportunities to join Hollywood.

Gatekeepers News reports that Nnaji made the revelation during the 2024 AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum/Afreximbank annual meetings held recently in Nassau, the Bahamas, where she was a panelist.

The actress noted that her passion for putting Nollywood on the global map made her refuse a Hollywood opportunity.

She said, “I could have gone to Hollywood a long time if I wanted to, but I had a dream to build an industry in Nigeria that could drive home.”

“Because I always believed in that. I always knew that we were capable of actually owning an industry like that that told our story for our people.”

Going on, the actress spoke about her experiences while seeking partnerships in Hollywood following the success of her 2018 film, ‘LionHeart’.

Genevieve said she realised she was viewed as a commodity by stakeholders in Hollywood who were only interested in exploiting her talent for their benefit.

She added “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.”

“Getting there and having the kind of support that obviously CANEX is bringing on board, but I thought I could find it in Hollywood. That was not quite the case.”

“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.”