The intriguing thing about this Nigerian icon is that she is barely a teenager, yet she already has so much to tell.
This Nigerian Icon is Mariam Kayode, and the 14-year-old is a Nigerian actress. Her acting career kick-started when her mum encouraged her to play the role of an alter ego girl in a stage play. Mariam’s mother, who also happens to be a film director, spotted the acting talent in the then eight-year-old Mariam and decided to make her a cast of a play titled “Darklight (2015)”.
Marian developed her acting talents right from her early childhood days because her parents encouraged her. After the stage play in 2015, she was pulled into the world of acting and since then has featured in several plays, including her award-winning short play, “Children of the Mud (2017)”.
The young and stunning actress currently has nothing less than 4,267 followers on Instagram, with 291 posts. She can be reached through her Instagram social media handle; @official_mariamkayode.
Biography of Mariam Kayode
Table of Contents
Growing Up.
Mariam Kayode was born on the 1st of June 2007. She hails from Oyo state and was born into a family of four. She is the first child of her parents and has a younger brother who is currently 11 years of age.
Growing up for Mariam Kayode was filled with lots of experiences. Her mother, Titilayo Kayode, noticed Mariam’s talent on time and urged her to go into acting at an early age. She had to combine both her education and her acting career. This seemed like quite a challenge for her as she was growing up, nevertheless, her mother arranged a schedule with her school and classes were fixed for when she wasn’t acting.
Education.
Mariam currently attends Kingsfield college, Ijede campus for her secondary education.
How Mariam’s Career Started.
Marian was fortunate to have been born into a family that is intrigued with the entertainment industry. It was pretty easy for Mariam to begin her acting career because Titilayo Kayode owns a film school.
At the age of eight, her mom asked her if she would love to take a role in her movie, and she answered yes. After acting out the part, Mariam decided that she wanted more acting roles.
Her second play, ” Children of the Mud”, shot her into the limelight as she became the award-winning teen actress through the movie. Since then, she has taken up more acting roles in several inspiring films.
IMPORTANT LIFE EVENTS.
Mariam Kayode Career Breakthroughs.
As a child actress, it isn’t easy to combine education with acting. Some child actors/actresses decide to give their education the maximum attention after one or two plays. However, Mariam and her parents found a way to make schooling and acting work simultaneously.
But what were the challenges involved?
Mariam’s mom had to speak to the teachers in her school to fix another time for her subjects. Individual classes were set for Mariam as she had to go with the timetable of the movie industry. For this reason, Mariam had to take classes alone and read on her own with little or no interaction with other classmates.
The love for acting motivated her as she was ready to bear the sacrifice of having limited interactions with other classmates and taking classes alone.
Her mom, who is her manager, always makes sure to keep her on track. As a child actress, Mariam is prone to have her attention divided, but her mom saw her through, ensuring that she strengthens her mind towards acting.
To keep up with the movie industry, she also had to go through night rehearsals. Mariam is good at all movie acting categories, and she is confident of pulling of any act, although she isn’t so sure of taking part in an action movie yet.
Mariam also had to keep up with other actors and actresses. Even as a young girl, she was able to interact with top actors and actresses. She acted alongside these famous movie artists.
Her role models within the movie industry are Rita Dominic, Funke Akindele, Odunlade Adekola and the likes. Her interactions with people like them have positively influenced her acting career so far.
Mariam’s Memorable Moments.
One of Mariam’s top memorable moments would always remain when she bagged the AMVCA 2018 awards as the Best Actress in the short play, “Children of Mud”. She is recognized within the Nigerian movie industry as the first child actress to get that award or even be nominated for it.
Another one of Mariam’s moments was when she was called up for an interview in 2018 with ” Sunday Magazine”. The discussion provided her with the opportunity to introduce herself more to the world.
Mariam Kayode Awards/Recognitions.
In 2018, Mariam got the AMVCA Awards (Africa Movie Viewers Choice Awards) for the Best Actress, “Children of The Mud”. She was recognized as the first-ever child actress to have been nominated for this award.
In the same year, SPAR (an award-winning supermarket that supports big-time projects in Nigeria) crowned Mariam as the Best Child Actress in the movie titled ” The Coffin Salesman”. SPAR was supported by “The Real Time Festival”, which promotes movies acted by children.
There is still much to be achieved by this young and beautiful actress, still several awards to be won.
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS.
Most famous works (Films/ Music/ Business/ NGO as the case might be:
Marian Kayode has made headways within the movie industry. In just a few years of going into acting, she had made a name for herself both locally and Internationally. Here’s a list of movies Mariam has featured in so far;
Dark Light (2015).
The Nigerians; A music video shot by Ebisan (2015).
Happiness Ltd (2016).
Don’t Leave Me (2016).
Children of the Mud (2017).
The Coffin Salesman (2019).
City of Bastards (2019).
Price of Admission (2020).
Black Dove (2021).
INTERESTING FACTS TO NOTE.
Mariam Kayode Net worth.
Dreams aren’t impossible if you take steps to work on them. No one is ever too small or old to make it in life. Even as a young teenager, Mariam already has a net worth. Her involvement in the movie industry had created a source of income for her. Although one can hardly place a fixed price on most celebrities net worth, however according to research, Mariam Kayode’s net worth is nothing less than 5,000 dollars.
Other Interesting Facts To Note.
Apart from her flair for acting, Mariam enjoys singing and acting. Also, on Sunday Magazine (2018), when asked about the other things she would also love to do, Mariam replied that she would like to help, support and speak out for underprivileged kids to gain access to some things. She made it known through the Sunday Interview that she aspires to become a lawyer/attorney defending the rights of children.
A question was also thrown at her during the 2018 interview. She was asked if she would love to continue in the path if acting after her education, Young Mariam replied yes. According to her, she would combine acting with her other side hustles.