Born on May 8, 1995, Genoveva Umeh is a Nigerian Born-British actress who hails from Anambra State, Nigeria. 

Together with her engineer father and nurse mother, Genoveva migrated to the United Kingdom in 2006. Before then, she had attended 1st Cyprian Nursery & Primary School in Abakpa Nike, Enugu State, for her Nursery & Primary education and Command Secondary School when she was in JSS1.  On her arrival abroad, she attended St Mary’s and St John’s CE School in London for the remainder of her high school education.

She had always been interested in acting and modelling, she therefore studied Acting from Identity School of Acting, London, England, in 2012.

Receiving a degree in Law from the United Kingdom in 2018, the professional actress returned to Nigeria to kick start her acting career. In 2019, she ventured into Nollywood.

It wasn’t always an easy transition for Genoveva though. The translocation meant that she had to leave her loved ones behind and resettle into a new industry and environment.

‘The hardest decision was being away from my family and friends for long periods of time. I miss my little brother (sorry – teen brother), he better not catch me calling him little, as well as my two god-daughters. Thankfully, I am able to catch up with them via video calls.  However, it is still a major adjustment, to be physically away from them’, she told ThisDay. 

On her entry into Nollywood, the actress starred in a number of movies but she did not receive the kind of attention she would desire. She featured in movies like Blameless (2019) where she played the role of Ezinne; Love Is War (2019); Lizard (2020) where she played the role of Kafilat; One Lagos Night (2021) as Anita. She also featured in short films such as Monitoring Spirits, Reflections and Focus.

During this period, Genoveva had been trying to carve a unique identity in the industry but she hadn’t entered the mainstream of entertainment. It was not until the movie, Blood Sisters, that her talents and acting skills became recognised.

By all means, Genoveva Umeh rose to fame with her role of Timileyin Ademola, a drug-addict of the Ademola family who also wanted to be the head of the family’s pharmaceutical company in Blood Sisters. Her embodiment of the role was remarkable and it genuinely sold her to the world. Since then, she has been the talk of the entertainment industry and viewers can’t get enough of her.

Unsurprisingly, Blood Sisters won her the NET Honours 2022 Breakout Actress of the Year. Her natural sync with the character and impeccable acting helped her to lay claims to a place as a breakout star with even more success to come in the not-so-distant future.