"How I won a role in 2Baba's 'African Queen' – Yvonne Jegede."

Yvonne Jegede (Nollywood actress)

Nollywood actress Yvonne Jegede has told the surprising story of how she was chosen for 2Baba’s classic music video, “African Queen.” She explained that the chance came up when she wasn't expecting it at all.

Speaking to BellaNaija, Jegede recalled that she was working on the film Missing Angel when she got the big opportunity.

“I was sitting beside Uncle Charles when his phone rang. Charles Nova turned to me and said Uzor, the director of African Queen, wanted to speak to me,” she said.

According to her, the call felt random and abrupt. “He said, ‘I want you to do a music video for me tomorrow.’ I was like, music video?” she recalled.

Jegede explained that she was initially uninterested, having previously appeared in videos where all she did was dance. 

“I said me I don’t want to do a music video o,” she said, adding that the director pressed further, hinting that the project was the video for African Queen by 2Face (now 2Baba). “I sha said I don’t want,” she added.

It took a phone conversation with a friend later that evening to change her mind. “Before I could even finish saying African Queen, my friend was already quivering on the other end of the phone,” she said.

He repeatedly encouraged her to accept the role, saying he adored the song, which she hadn't heard at all back then.

Motivated by his enthusiasm, Jegede called the director back around 9 p.m. “I told him, ‘Okay, I think I’ll do the video,’ and he gave me all the information,” she said.

That same night, she hurried to Surulere to prepare for the shoot. “There was a studio and a salon. When I got to the salon, they already knew someone was coming to get a specific hairstyle. After they were done, I took a bike to the location,” she narrated.

The video shoot that followed would go on to mark the beginning of her career. Jegede has since grown into one of Nollywood’s recognized faces, but the actress says the journey truly began from that iconic moment. 

“And that was the beginning of my career, with the African Queen video,” she said