Tope Oshin Biography

Temitope Aina Oshin is a Nigerian film director, producer, consultant, and casting director for television and film. She is also the founder and CEO of Sunbow Productions. She was listed as one of the “9 Nigerian female movie directors you should know” by Pulse magazine in 2015. In observance of Women’s History Month, Tope was honoured by OkayAfrica as one of the Okay100 Women in March 2018. She is a recipient of the “Interactive Campaign” award, an organisation that honours remarkable women from Africa and the diaspora who are making waves in a variety of professions and having a positive impact on both their local communities and the global community.

Full Name	Temitope Aina Oshin
Stage Name	Tope Oshin
Date of Birth	June 10, 1979
Place of Birth	Lagos State, Nigeria
State of Origin	Lagos State, Nigeria
Occupation	Filmmaker
Active Years	1996-present
Net Worth	$1 million
Social Media Handles	Instagram: topeoshinfilm Twitter: @topeoshin

Early Life and Education

Tope was born on June 10, 1979, in Lagos State, Nigeria. While growing up, she enjoyed singing, dancing, and painting as a child, and she wanted to be an artist. She attended the Girls’ High School in Agege, Lagos, and Iganmode Grammar School in Ota, Ogun State, for her secondary school. She began studying economics at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, but quit the programme to study public administration, and later at the School of Theatre Arts, TV and Film Production at Lagos State University. She attended Itpan Training School in Gbagada, Lagos, for brief training in acting techniques and the visual and performing arts after earning her B.A.

She developed a greater interest in filmmaking and later studied cinematography and film production at the Colorado Film School of the Community College of Aurora, Denver, and the Met Film School, Ealing Studios, London, respectively. Tope is also an alumnus of “Talents Durban” and “Berlinale Talents“, a networking conference for exceptional creatives from the global cinema and television industries.

Career

She started working as an actor for R & M Media in 2005. She joined 341 Media in 2007 as an assistant director but left the following year to join Ark Resources Entertainment. In 2008, she left Ark Resources to work as an associate producer/assistant director for Storm Media Group.

In 2009, Tope Oshin’s career as a producer with Inspire Africa Productions started. In 2010, she moved to M-Net, where she worked as a Box and Content Producer/Director until 2013 when she moved to EbonyLifeTv. She started out at EbonyLifeTV as the Acting Head of Drama before rising to the position of Project Manager/Supervising Producer.

Before switching to directing, Tope spent 12 years as an actor, appearing in movies including Relentless (2010) and working as an assistant director on The Apprentice Africa. and has since gained recognition for helming well-liked African TV dramas and soap operas like Hush, Hotel Majestic, Tinsel, and MTV Shuga. Although she has worked on a number of contemplative short films, including The Young Smoker, Till Death Do Us Part, New Horizons, and Ireti, she is best known for her 2018 feature picture releases, Up North (film), and New Money, both of which were huge box office successes.

She has worked with stars like Akin Lewis, Sola Sobowale, Adesuwa Etomi, Banky W, Ayo Makun, Ali Baba, and Richard Mofe-Damijo, among others.

Sunbow Productions Limited

In 2011, Tope Oshin founded the full-service motion picture production company, Sunbow Productions Ltd. The company offers audiovisual content and production services for reality shows, radio dramas, TV dramas, features, short films, TV commercials, radio commercials, and corporate videos, among others.

The romantic comedy Fifty, which is about four women in their fifties living in Lagos, was one of Oshin’s highest-grossing films in Nigeria and smashed box office records when it was released in December 2015, earning N20 million in its first weekend. Another movie she directed was “The Wedding Party 2“, which was the highest-grossing Nigerian movie as of 2018.

As a tribute to renowned director Amaka Igwe, who passed away in 2014, she produced and directed the documentary titled Amaka’s Kin: The Women Of Nollywood in 2016. The documentary discusses problems faced by female directors from Nigeria who work in a male-dominated field.

Tope presented the BBC documentary Nigeria-Shooting It Like A Woman in 2017 as a follow-up to her documentary and as part of the BBC 100 Women season to honour the new generation of female filmmakers who are reinventing Nollywood. Apart from the BBC World Service, a lot of other TV programmes and books, such as Niran Adedokun’s book Ladies Calling the Shots, were also impacted by Tope’s Amaka’s Kin-The Women Of Nollywood documentary.

When she co-wrote, directed, and produced the queer film We Don’t Live Here Anymore for the human rights organisation TIERs (The Initiative for Equal Rights) in 2018, the movie only had a small internet release through FilmOne Distribution because it was rejected for cinema distribution. However, We Don’t Live Here Anymore was shown at the Glasgow Africa In Motion Film Festival and, shockingly, garnered numerous nominations and awards at 2018 Best of Nollywood Awards in Nigeria. Currently, Amazon is the only place to purchase the film.

Tope also enjoys a successful career as a casting director. She has been cast in numerous film and television productions, including all three seasons of the drama series Shuga, produced by the MTV Staying Alive Foundation in Nigeria. After overseeing and casting Season 6 of the show in 2017, Tope was hired by MTV Shuga (TV Series), then called MTV Shuga Naija 4, to produce Season 8. Tope is recognised as the Head Director, Showrunner, Executive Producer, and Producer of the TV show. For the first time in 2015, Tope participated on a jury for the International Emmy Awards.

Personal Life

Tope got married to screenwriter Yinka Ogun in 2002, and the marriage ended in 2014. The union produced four children. The names of her children are Ayomipe Ogun, Oluwaferanmi Ogun, Korede Ogun, and Mayowa Ogun.

Filmography

Featured Films

Journey to Self (As a Director) – 2012
Fifty (As a Producer) – 2015
The Wedding Party 2 (As a Producer) – 2017
InLine (As a Director) – 2017
New Money (As a Director) – 2018
Up North (As a Director) – 2018
We Don’t Live Here Anymore (As a Director and Producer) – 2018

Short Films

The Young Smoker (As a Director and Producer) – 2011
Till Death Do Us Part (As a Director and Producer) – 2013
New Horizons (As a Director and Producer) – 2013
Crush (As a Director, Producer, Editor, and Writer) – 2014
Ireti (As a Director, Producer, and Writer) – 2015

Television

Tinsel (TV series and Soap Opera, Seasons 2-5. As a Director, Box/Content Producer) – 2009 – 2012
Moments With Mo (Talk Show, As a Producer) – 2009
Bridges (Drama Series, Season 1, As a Director) – 2012
Love and War (TV Movie, As a Director, Producer, and Casting Director) – 2013
Conversations At Dinner (TV Movie, As a Director, Producer, and Casting Director) – 2013
Walk The Talk (Talk Show, Season 1, As a Director, and Producer) – 2014
Hotel Majestic (Tele-Novella, As a Director) – 2015
Hush (Tele-Novella, As a Director) – 2016
EvoL (TV Feature, As a Director, Producer, Casting Director, and Writer) – 2016
GidiUp 3 (Drama Series, As a Director) – 2016
Ever After (TV Feature, As a Director, Producer, Casting Director, and Writer) – 2017
BattleGround (Tele-Novella, Pre-Production, as a Content Director/Consultant) – 2017
MTV Shuga Season 6 (As a Director, and Casting Director) – 2018
MTV Shuga Naija Season 4. She functioned as the ShowRunner, Lead Director, Producer, Casting Director, and Executive Producer – 2019

Documentaries

Amaka’s Kin – The Women of Nollywood. (As a Director, Producer, and Writer) – 2016
Nigeria: Shooting It Like a Woman. (As a Presenter) – 2017

Honours

OkayAfrica Okay100 Women 2017 Honoree
Excellence in the Creative Industries Award – Sisi Oge Awards 2018
Distinguished Alumni Medal of Honour 2016 – In-short film festival
African Woman in Film Award 2015 by African Women Development Fund
Special Award For Outstanding Contribution To Film & TV In Nigeria – Eko Star Film & TV Awards by Lagos State Govt./Nigerian Film & TV Summit/Ebonylife Media 2021

Awards and Nominations

Best Directing at The Audi Visual Awards (TAVA) Lagos – 2011
Audience Prize at the In-short film festival, Lagos – 2011
Special Jury Mention at the In-short film festival, Lagos – 2011
Nominated for Best Director at the In-short film festival, Lagos, Nigeria – 2011
Best Film nominee at the In-short film festival, Lagos, Nigeria – 2011
Best Director at the In-short film festival – 2012
In-short film festival honoured her with the award of Best Film – 2012
Best Short Film at the Abuja International Film Festival – 2012
Most Outstanding Short Film nomination at the Audi Visual Awards (TAVA) – 2012
Nominated for Most Outstanding Short Film at the Audi Visual Awards (TAVA) – 2012
Best Short Film Award nomination at the Africa Movie Academy Awards – 2012
Outstanding Film in Directing nominee at the Abuja International Film Festival – 2012
Slum Film Festival named the Young Smoker as Best Narrative Film – 2013
Best Movie with a social message at the Best of Nollywood Awards – 2013
Best Director nominee at the Zulu African Academy Awards (ZAFAA) – 2013
Nominated for the Best Director at the Nollywood Movies Awards (NMA) – 2013
Best Movie nominee at the Nollywood Movies Awards (NMA) – 2013
Nominated Till Death Do Us Part for Best Short Film at the Nollywood Movies Awards (NMA) – 2013
Best Program Director nominee at the Nigerian Broadcast & Media Awards (NBMA) – 2014
Nominated New Horizons for Best TV Drama at the Nigerian Broadcast & Media Awards (NBMA) – 2014
Best Director nominee at the Nigerian Entertainment Awards (NEA) – 2014
New Horizons was nominated for Best Short Film at the Best of Nollywood Awards (BON) – in 2014
Special Jury Award at the Africa Movie Academy Awards – 2014
Teens Favorite TV and Film Producer at the Teens Favorite Awards, Nigeria – 2014
Golden Short Award at the Golden Movie Awards Africa – 2015
African Woman in Film Award by the African Women Development Fund – 2015
Best Documentary at the Best of Nollywood Awards – 2016
Women’s Only Entertainment Film Festival named her the Best International Female Director – in 2016
Best International Short Film at the Women’s Only Entertainment Film Festival – 2016
At the Nigerian Broadcast Media Awards, she was named Best TV Program Director – in 2016
Distinguished Alumni Medal of Honor at the In-short film festival – 2016
Director of The Year at the Lagos Entertainment Awards – 2016
Filmmaker of the year nominee at the Divas Award – 2016
Creative Personae of the year nominee at the Nigerian Creatives Award – 2016
Best Producer of the year nominee at the Exquisite Lady of the Year Awards (ELOY) – 2016
Nominated Ireti for Best Short Film Award at the Abuja Int’l Film Festival – 2016
Ireti was nominated for Best Short Film at the Africa Movie Academy Awards – in 2016
Golden Short Award nominee at the Golden Movie Awards Africa – 2016
Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards nominee for Best Documentary – 2017
Nominated Ireti for Best Short Film at the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards – 2017
Best Director of the Year at the City People Entertainment Awards – 2017
OkayAfrica named her as one of the Okay 100Women honorees – 2017
Director of the Year at the Ebonylife TV Sisterhood Awards – 2017
Excellence in the Creative Industries at the Sisi Oge Awards – 2018
Best Director of the Year at the Best of Nollywood Awards – 2018
At the Best of Nollywood Awards, We Don’t Live Here Anymore was named Best Movie of the Year – 2018
Best Screenplay of the Year nominee at the Best of Nollywood Awards (BON) – 2018
Up North was nominated as the Best Nigerian Film at the Africa Movie Academy Awards – 2019
Best Director for the movie In Line at the 7th Annual Hollywood Weekly Magazine Film Festival & Awards-2021
The ReFrame Stamp Award for Here Love Lies Movie-2021

Net Worth

Tope Oshin is known to be one of the most celebrated people in Nollywood, and she is highly regarded at home and abroad. She is estimated to be worth $1 million.

Social Media Handle

Instagram: topeoshinfilm
Twitter: @topeoshin