Francis Duru is a Nigerian actor, director, producer and writer, and to a whole generation of Nigerians he is simply Ahanna.
He is 57. He studied Theatre Arts at the University of Port Harcourt and graduated in 1996.
His screen life began in 1989 in Missing Mark, a film directed by the late Ndubuisi Oko. It was a small beginning, the kind that closes as quietly as it opens.
Six years later, Amaka Igwe cast him as Ahanna in Rattlesnake, and everything changed.
The film was an action comedy, and Ahanna was not a small man in it. He was the one who carried the quarrel, took the beating and came back for more. Nigerians watched him and saw somebody they knew.
That role did what few roles do. It turned an actor into a name people said out loud, and it kept him working for thirty years.
His credits stretch across English and Igbo film. Blood Money, Stigma, Mboputa, Eagle Wings, Nnenda, The Good Husband, Mama Sunday, Total Control, Home in Exile, and Merry Men: The Real Yoruba Demons.
He was not only in front of the camera. He directed, he produced, he wrote, and he hosted events. For many years he was one of the faces the industry sent out to speak for it.
In 2010 he served as interim president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, at a time when the guild needed a steady hand.
The awards came too. In 2020 he won Best Actor in a Leading Role (Igbo) at the Best of Nollywood Awards for Mboputa, and he was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the Africa Movie Academy Awards the same year.
He was also named a United Nations ambassador of peace, for the way young people listened to him.
Away from set he is a family man. He married Adokiye in 2003. They met as undergraduates at the University of Port Harcourt, and they have children.
Ask a Nigerian of a certain age to name one Francis Duru film and watch the face change. That is the measure of the man, and it has nothing to do with trophies.
Are you interested in learning how to write professionally and earning money as a writer and content creator? Contact Auxi Sherpa today to start your writing journey immediately.
Editorial note: The writer of this article does not claim to know Francis Duru personally. The information regarding his background and career, as published on Global News Arena, is based entirely on independent internet research.
If you have an article, opinion piece, event or news story you would like published, Global News Arena would love to hear from you.
