Beverly Naya

Beverly Naya (born Beverly Ifunaya Bassey; 17 April 1988) is a British-born Nigerian actress. She won Most Promising Talent at the 2010 Best of Nollywood Awards. She also won the award for Fast Rising Actress at the 2011 City People Entertainment Awards.^[1][2][3]

Beverly Naya
Naya on NdaniTV in 2018
Born	Beverly Ifunaya Bassey London, England
Alma mater	Roehampton University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2008–present

Early life

Naya was born in London as the only child of her Nigerian parents.^[4] At 17, Naya began acting while studying philosophy, psychology and sociology at Brunel University. She also studied script-writing and film-making at Roehampton University.^[5] In an interview with BellaNaija, she explained that she relocated to Nigeria because of the rapid growth of Nollywood, and the opportunities that it creates for aspiring actors.^[6] In another interview, Naya cited Ramsey Nouah and Genevieve Nnaji as mentors.^[6]

Career

Naya began acting at the age of 17 and studied film-making at Roehampton University, London.^[7] In the year 2011, Naya was named the "fastest rising actress" in the City People Entertainment Awards in Nigeria, when asked why she returned to Nigeria by Encomium Magazine she said:

After I graduated from university, I just knew that I wanted to act, I knew I wanted to act, and in London I could shoot a film probably once in a year and that's it. Whereas coming to this industry, I can build a brand as well as shoot films more often and be given a more diverse amount of scripts. So, I decided to come back for that reason.^[8]

Filmography

• Guilty Pleasures^[9] (2009) as Bella
• Death Waters (2012)
• Tinsel
• Home in Exile
• Alan Poza (2013) as Pride Eze
• Forgetting June (2013) as Tobi
• Make a move (2014)
• Up Creek Without a Paddle
• Stripped (2013) as Soledad
• Weekend Getaway (2012) as Angela
• ...When Love Happens (2014) as Jennifer
• Brother's Keeper (2014) as Cassandra Okoro
• Before 30 (2015) as Nkem
• Oasis (2015)^[10]
• Skinny Girl in Transit (2015)
• Suru L'ere (2016) Omosigho
• The Wedding Party (2016)^[11] as Rosie
• Dinner
• Affairs of the Heart (2016) as Stella
• The Arbitration (2016) as Chiamaka Sanni
• Dibia
• The Wedding Party 2 (2017) as Rosie
• Chief Daddy (2018) as Adaora
• The Eve (2018) as Yewande
• In Sickness and Health (2018) as Tinuke
• Jumbled (2019) as Jasmin
• Nneka the Pretty Serpent (2020) as Nkem Ojukwu
• Two Weeks in Lagos (2021)
• Chief Daddy 2: Going for Broke (2022) as Adaora
• Kofa (2022) as Franka
• The Fast Lane (2023) as Shakira
• Insecure (2024)
• After 30 (2025)

Awards and nominations

Year	Event	Prize	Work	Result
2010	2010 Best of Nollywood Awards	Most Promising Talent		Won
2011	City People Entertainment Awards[1][2][3]	Fast Rising Actress		Won
2014	ELOY Awards[12]	TV Actress of the Year	Tinsel	Nominated
2016	AMVCA[13]	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
2018	Toronto International Film Festival	Best Actress	Demon Inside	Won
	Forbes 30 under 30 Africa[14]	Best Actress and Entrepreneur		Won
2020	Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards (AMVCA)	Best Documentary	Skin	Won