Nollywood Stars: Media and Migration in West Africa and the Diaspora Noah A. Tsika 9780253015754

In this comprehensive study of Nollywood stardom around the world, Noah A. Tsika explores how the industry's top on-screen talents have helped Nollywood to expand beyond West Africa and into the diaspora to become one of the globe's most prolific and diverse media producers. Carrying VHS tapes and DVDs onto airplanes and publicizing new methods of film distribution, the stars are active agents in the global circulation of Nollywood film. From Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde's cameo role on VH1's popular series Hit the Floor to Oge Okoye's startling impersonation of Lady Gaga, this book follows Nollywood stars from Lagos to London, Ouagadougou, Cannes, Paris, Porto-Novo, Sekondi-Takoradi, Dakar, Accra, Atlanta, Houston, New York, and Los Angeles. Tsika tracks their efforts to integrate into various entertainment cultures, but never to the point of effacing their African roots.

Noah A. Tsika is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Queens College, City University of New York.

There is no doubt that this is a pioneering book, one that raises important questions about the transnational and transmedial dimensions of an emergent, corporate culture of stardom and models an entirely new approach to the study of African movies and media.

Nollywood Stars is a revelation. It will introduce readers to one of the most significant global centers of film production, Nigeria, and to a film culture that is significantly different from that of Hollywood . . . This is an important work. Essential.

Noah Tsika's Nollywood Stars is a pioneering book that makes a significant contribution to the growing body of scholarship on African screen media and the critical emergent field of Nollywood studies.