(Toyin Abraham. Photo by BBC)
Toyin Abraham, a Nigerian actress and director, has talked about the financial challenges she had early in her acting career.
The 43-year-old film producer revealed that, although working in the Nigerian film industry for over 25 years, she only began to get a sizable salary eight years ago.
Speaking about her financial journey, Abraham said that although she entered the field in 2001, she didn’t make much money for several years.
“I recently started earning money. Since 2001, I have worked in the field for almost 25 years. I started earning money, but I don’t believe it has been eight years.
I was preparing it at the time, but it was just peanuts, nothing more.
She went on to say that in those early days, her meager earnings from playing parts were hardly sufficient to meet her basic requirements.
The actress has become one of Nollywood’s most successful filmmakers in spite of those early difficulties.
Her movie Oversabi Aunty made over N1 billion at the box office in January 2026, marking a significant milestone.
As the first Nollywood directorial debut to earn more than N1 billion, the production made a record and is currently the fourth highest-grossing Nollywood movie ever.
