By the time Jackie Appiah turned five in the Ghana Movie Industry, she had already won herself a distinctive Africa Movie Academy Award.
The now branded multi award-winning actress was among the fresh crop of actors Abdul Salam Mumuni used to test the waters of the film industry; when time came for Gollywood to go solo on full-length projects. Jackie starred alongside Majid Michel and Van Vicker in the romantic-drama ‘Divine Love’ after making her television debut in ‘Things We Do For Love’. Although the latter was a commercial success for Appiah, the former issued her a blue print as one of the industry’s leading ladies.
Regardless the attention her performance in both works garnered on screen, Jackie remained an up-and-comer until the 2006 movie, ‘Mummy’s Daughter’, which she shared screen credit with fellow newcomer Nadia Buari. Reflective of a potential seller in Gollywood, her follow-up film ‘Beyonce: The President’s Daughter’ thrust her into the award season fold as she secured a nomination in the AMAA best supporting actress category alongside Nollywood vibrant Ireti Doyle (Sitanda) and Noelie Funmi Agbendegba (Abeni).
Jackie’s eventual win at the AMAAs ostensibly placed Gollywood on a higher pedestal: all the giants in the Africa film industry began mouthing Gollywood, casting directors and film executives never rubbished the idea of casting a Ghanaian actor/actress in their projects.
Seizing her moment, the subsequent years of Appiah’s career were beeping with excitement. The enthusiasm that followed her projects opened her up for awards season worthy films including the Shirley Frimpong Manso’s directed feature ‘The Perfect Picture’. Jackie’s second AMAA (best actress in a lead role 2010) came with that film and again won her, best actress in a drama movie at the very first ‘Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Award’ three years on (2013).
To date, she remains the only Ghanaian actress to have won two of the industry’s biggest trophies with a single movie. She also doubles as one out of the four actors in Ghana feted with an AMVCA in the acting categories (Adjetey Anang, Lydia Forson and Gloria Sarfo also won in 2018 and 2020 respectively).
