Beautiful ‘Refugees’ Actresses Unveiled

Belinda Effah

This week, there were reports that some UK and USA based African actresses will be in Ghana for the first time for the shooting of a movie titled ‘Refugees’.

They were in the person of Diana Yekinni, Okawa Shaznay and Belinda Effah. NEWS-ONE has tried to find out a little about them.   

Diana Yekinni

Diana Yekinni

Diana Yekinni is an actress. She appeared in two episodes of the television series ‘Medium’, as well as the film ‘Ijé’ as Libby. Alongside Eric Kolelas, Yekinni also featured in the acclaimed short film ‘Mosa’.

Diana Yekinni was born and raised in South London, England where she first realised her passion and true love for performing.

Diana started acting from a very young

age, starring in her first play when she was six years old. She studied theatre and dance at the Brit School of Performing Arts in London.
After that, her passion for theatre landed her in Los Angeles where she attended the full time programme at the American Academy Of Dramatic Arts. Diana was fortunate enough to work with amazing actors and instructors whilst there.
Since graduating, Diana has gone on to do several projects, both film and theatre, such as 'The Hunter', Mosa,' ‘Ije’, a Nigerian feature film, all of which have gone on to international film festivals.
Diana is currently working between London and Nigeria on various film projects.
Her never-ending passion for acting has taken her all over the world and she hopes to continue sharing her gift and love with everyone she meets on her journey.

Diana Yekinni is the winner of Screen Icon Search, organized by Golden Icons, producers of the most credible black entertainment film award, Golden Icon Academy Movie Award (GIAMA) in Texas, Houston.

Okawa Shaznay

Okawa Shaznay is an African actress of Cameroonian nationality affiliated with Nollywood USA (Nollywood movie industry-U.S sector).

Beautiful Okawa Shaznay

She was born in Cameroon. Shaznay later moved to the United States for higher education, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting from Texas Southern University. Growing up Shaznay had developed interests in performing arts at an early age; while in secondary school, she took part in several school and church plays and admired the ever growing Nollywood movie industry from her neighbouring sister country Nigeria.

Before she left for the USA, she had taken part in a few Cameroonian productions. Shaznay's first mainstream feature with Nollywood USA was her role as Bonita in a JJ Bunny productions movie called ‘Caged’, and she also starred as one of the lead characters in ‘The Bet’.

She has done several other movies and has featured in movies alongside Nollywood's notables such as Desmond Elliott, Jim Iyke, Tonto Dike, Van Vicker, Ini Edo, John Dumelo, and JJ Bunny.

Shaznay was cited in a notable UK based Cameroonian entertainment site as one of 2010's top 50 Cameroonians to look out for.

In 2010, she participated in the Miss Africa USA contest. Even though she did not win the title, she represented her country elegantly as Miss Cameroon USA at the time. Okawa Shaznay was nominated for best supporting actress in a leading role for the movie ‘This is Houston’, at the 2012 Cameroon Entertainment Awards.

Belinda Effah

A graduate of the famed Royal Arts Academy, Belinda Effah has shown that when talent meets opportunity, truly the sky is the limit.  

cute Belinda Effah

She is described as a great actress with a promising future. She acted in several English language Nollywood movies apart from Ibibio films.

She was the winner of Best New Actress at the last GIAMA awards in Houston, Texas. She is also a recipient of Nollywood's most promising actress award, Nigeria, and Akwa Ibom Youth-Recognition Award, Nigeria. She is an actress cum TV presenter and she first hit the TV screen as a housemate of The Next Movie Star of reality TV show in 2006, where she finished fifth. Now she is one of the names representing Nollywood outside the shores of Nigeria.