How I almost missed my breakout in African Queen – Yvonne Jegede

Nollywood actress Yvonne Jegede recently walked down memory lane in a candid chat on the Nollywood on Radio podcast.

The actress and mother of one opened up about how she landed a role in 2Baba’s legendary “African Queen” music video. While it’s a moment many fans still associate with her early rise to stardom, Yvonne shared how she nearly turned the whole thing down.

“When the director first reached out, I didn’t even think twice. I just said, ‘No, I’m not interested,’” she admitted, chuckling. At the time, Yvonne was laser-focused on building her acting career and wasn’t exactly thrilled about being in a music video.

To make things even more interesting, she said she had no idea what “African Queen” was or that it was about to become a massive hit. She said:

“Back then, I only knew 2Baba as part of Plantashun Boiz. I didn’t even know he had gone solo. So when they mentioned the song, I was like, ‘Which one is African Queen again?’”

It wasn’t until a friend hyped the song that she reconsidered. She continued:

“We were just gisting later that night and I casually mentioned that someone had invited me for some video shoot. I called it one ‘stupid thing’. But the moment I said ‘African Queen,’ my friend Michael just screamed, ‘Go and do it! I love that song’”

That conversation changed everything. She called the director back that night, got the shoot details, sorted her hair, and by the next morning, she was on set. It was also the first time she laid eyes on 2Baba in person. “When I saw him, I was like, ‘So this is real o,’” she laughed.

Although the video ended up boosting her visibility, Yvonne said she was never interested in becoming a full-time video vixen. “I just wanted to act. That was always the goal,” she said. In fact, the only other music video she featured in was Djinee’s Ego, which she did simply as a favour to a friend.

Today, with several acting credits and production projects under her belt, Yvonne Jegede continues to prove she’s more than just a pretty face from a classic video.