Nollywood actress, Bimbo Ademoye, rates Jenifa’s Diary, produced by fellow actress, Funke Akindele, as one of the industry’s most impactful series.
The 33-year-old also called Akindele a legend on the latest episode of The Buffet YouTube show she co-hosts with Aníkúlápó co-star, Kunle Remi.
“Jenifa started off as a film, and became a spinoff into a series. It is still one of the most iconic, one of the most impactful series to ever hit Nollywood,” she said.
“Funke Akindele is an amazon, an icon, and a legend. She made razz become the new classy,” she added.
The Jenifa franchise started as a 2008 film, and the titular character, played by Akindele, became an instant hit with audiences especially due to her peculiar crude way of speaking.
A spinoff series, titled Jenifa’s Diary, premiered in 2015, and has aired nearly 300 episodes, with no end in sight. The franchise has also landed two additional spinoffs — Aiyetoro Town in 2019 and Jenifa on Lockdown in 2021 — still following the Jenifa character.
Akindele has built some of her exploits as one of Nollywood’s most-accomplished filmmakers on the success of the Jenifa franchise. She’s regarded as the queen of the Nigerian box office as she’s produced/co-produced and co-directed the top three highest grossing Nollywood films of all time.
Her A Tribe Called Judah left the cinemas weeks ago after a record-breaking run that culminated in a total gross of ₦1.4 billion. This follows record-breaking runs by Battle on Buka Street (₦668 million), Nollywood’s second highest-grossing film of all time, and Omo Ghetto: The Saga (₦636 million), Nollywood’s third highest-grossing film of all time.
Speaking about the Jenifa franchise in 2016, Akindele said, “I don’t see Jenifa’s Dairy coming to an end.” New episodes of the series are posted on the YouTube page of her production company, FAAN TV.
