Funke Akindele

Funke Akindele Biography / Profile

Akindele Olufunke Ayotunde (popularly known as Funke Akindele and Jennifa) was born on August 24th, 1977, in Ikorodu, Lagos State, Nigeria. She is a Nigerian actress, script writer and producer.

Funke Akindele Age

Funke Akindele is 46 years old.

Funke Akindele Early Life

Funke grew up in Lagos as her mother, a medical doctor and her father, retired school principal lived and worked in Lagos. She has two siblings and is the second of the three children of her parents. She shaped her career in the media profession as a Journalist and actress after she received an OND in Mass Communication from the Ogun State Polytechnic. She went further up the academic ladder to pursue a law degree from the famous University of Lagos and wanted to pursue law as a professional career.

Funke Akindele Career

Funke worked in Television for a long period of time and later switched permanently to the lucrative cinema world. The Superstar came to limelight in 1998 when she played Bisi, a brilliant secondary school student, in the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) sponsored sitcom; “I Need To Know.” The comedy soap opera ran from 1998 to 2002. She gained huge fame in 2009 for her role in the movie “ Jenifa“. So far, she has more than a hundred movies she produced, wrote or acted in. She has over a 100 movies to her credit as actress, writer and producer.

Funke is a recognized figure in many African homes and many adore her in many of her lead roles in great movies that have made quite an impact on Nigerians and Nollywood. She has become a role model to so many young Nigerians who aspire to be like her and who she has inspired to work hard towards living in better future. She runs a non-governmental Organisation known as The Jenifa Foundation, whose aims and objectives involves nurturing talents and acquiring vocational skills. She also has a lot of endorsement deals to her name, the most recently is her being signed as Ambassador to Iroko TV.

Funke Akindele Personal Life

Just like other celebrities, Funke had a colourful wedding in 2012. But her marriage did not flourish as her fans anticipated. Her ex-husband, Kehinde Oloyede Adeola was rumoured to have had strings of relationships and children out-of-wedlock. There are claims that her marriage did not work due to her husband’s extra-marital affairs. Nobody was sure what happened but they got a divorce in 2013, a year after their wedding, citing irreconcilable differences.

Funke gave love a second chance when she tied the knot with Nigerian rapper Abdul Rasheed Bello widely known as JJC Skillz. The secret wedding took place in London in May 2016. News went viral that she was going to deliver twins in London. She debunked the news and later on, reports surfaced that the babies (twins)which she reportedly conceived through IVF died at birth. Currently, she has no child but her husband JJC has three children from other women, so she has step-children.

Funke Akindele Awards

Funke has won several awards;

In 2009, she made headlines across the entire continent of Africa as the Best Actress in a leading role and this led her to win the highly recognized award.
In 2012 and 2013, Nollywood Movie Award for Best Lead Actress in an Indigenous Language
In 2014 and 2017, Nigeria Entertainment Award for Best Actress