Questioning Yvonne Okoro's nationality: Are you a Ghanaian or Nigerian

There are no question about Yvonne Okoro's acting talent and her good looks. But there is one question that Ghanaians are asking Yvonne Okoro to answer. And that is “Yvonne, are you a Ghanaian or Nigerian?” On behalf of the many Ghanaian movie fans, the Mirror demanded an answer from the starlet. This is what she had to say:

“Hahaha, this question again! Well, I am half Nigerian and half Ghanaian. My father comes from the Abia State in Nigeria, which means that I am an Igbo, and my mother is from Enyan Abaasa in the Central Region, which also makes me a Fante and for that matter Ghanaian,” Yvonne replied in a tone that knocked in a nail to seal the matter.

According to reports, she was quoted reiterating, “I don’t think my nationality should be important. I am just an African”.

Arrow pointing at Yvonne Okoro's younger sister facial expression 

Well, her reteration of just being an African seem to not have worked to her younger sister's favour  who entered the 2012 Miss Ghana competition. From the word Go it was clear she was going to steal the headlines, which she did. Roseline Okoro grabbed a lot of media attention including the controversial issue about her nationality. It was therefore not shocking that she emerged the most popular contestant, topping the SMS votes and emerging as Miss SMS during the finale over the weekend. 

What may be shocking for her and her supporters is that in spite of that popularity she couldn’t make it beyond the top 5. She missed out in the top 3 positions and from the look on her face when the winner was declared (as seen on the picture above), she seemed shocked! So what went wrong? Did the votes really matter? Did she fail to impress judges with her answers? Or did the controversies surrounding her nationality affected her chances? Well her sister, Yvonne Okoro had some suspicions according to her tweet the Sunday that week.

Background history of Yvonne Okoro

She was born Yvonne Chinyere Okereke Okoro to a Nigerian father and a Ghanaian mother. Ever since she hit the silver screens about eight years ago, movie lovers in the two countries, Nigeria and Ghana have silently struggled to ‘claim’ her but she insists that the Africannes in her supersedes all other lineages.

She is the first child of her mother, and the fifth born of all siblings from both parents. Her strict dad who believes in education didn’t like the fact that she chose acting over education, but the fact is that Yvonne has not chosen the screen over school.

She has had a long walk through the corridors of formal education and she has plans to keep walking. Yvonne attended Achimota Preparatory School, after which she went to the Lincoln Community School then to Faith Montessori School. The Mfanstiman Girls Senior High School was her next stop.

She later studied and obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Linguistics from the University of Ghana, Legon. She continued later at the Universite’ De Nantes in France, where she studied French Civilisation and Culture as well as Drama and Marketing.

Yvonne cdebuted in the movie industry in 2002 after her Senior High Education. Her first movie was ‘Sticking to the Promise’ produced by the Nigerian producer, Theo Akatugba.

She also played a cameo role in the hit miniseries ‘Tentacles’ produced by the same producer for Point Blank Media Concepts.

Her good performances in the above productions ‘threw’ her into a big movie, ‘Beyonce’, which was her first major movie. She starred alongside Jackie Appiah in the Abdul Sallam Mumuni film produced by Venus Films.

She has more than 12 movies to her credit. They include Beyonce, Beyonce 2, The Return Of Beyonce, The Return Of Beyonce 2; The President’s Daughter; The President’s Daughter 2; Play, 4Play Reloaded, Desperate To Survive, The Game, Agony Of Christ, Royal Battle, Queen Of Dreams and ‘Le Hotelier’ a French production.

Yvonne loves the screens but having her eyes on the Bar makes her more keen on pursuing her dream of becoming a Lawyer. She also enjoys writing and is presently working on her first book which will hit the shelves soon.