Sahndra Fon Dufe

Other film roles include Yurika in Frank Rajah's Refugees (2013) starring Yvonne Nelson, Kwuni in Unconditional Love (2013) with John Dumelo, and Patience in the short film The Successor of Katunga.(2013).

In addition to acting, Fon Dufe is also known for being the brainchild behind the Yefon trilogy. The trilogy, set in 1940 West Africa, portrays a young African village girl who goes against the discriminatory laws of her tribe, which subjugate women, and becomes the spark for a literary revolution.

The debut novel

Fon Dufe started her professional acting career in local Cameroonian movies while she was studying law at the University of Buea in Cameroon. Without her parents' knowledge, she starred in two local movies as a supporting character. The first movie she appeared in was the Gold Age Productions feature movie Standing The Rain, starring Desmond Whyte and Proxy Buh Melvin. The movie was directed by Enah Johnscott and distributed locally in 2009.

Even though this film didn't make it internationally, US-based film producer and owner of AkwaStar Studios, Mako Namme, eventually noticed her. Namme offered Fon Dufe a supporting role in the movie Two Princes starring Kelly Azia, Collins Isuma, and Awa Edna.

This movie also never made it out of Cameroon, but the young actress' personality was noticed by prolific producers like Agbor Gilbert and director Reginald Ebere from neighbouring Nigeria, home to the world's second largest film industry: Nollywood.

In December 2010, barely a week after her graduation from law school, Fon Dufe left for the United States. She started training as an actor at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles in 2011

The year was barely over when Sahndra booked the role of Zena in Kelechi Eke's Lost in Abroad, a Nigerian movie about confused African immigrants which was filmed in Texas, US. That same year, she appeared on a Dove Body Wash Times Square billboard, and modelled for the Los Angeles Fashion Minga.

The following year, she shot an inspirational International PSA in French and English which was directed by the award-winning female Chinese director

When Fon Dufe graduated from NYFA, her parents flew all the way from Cameroon to watch her play Edie from The American Clock as her final showcase. It was at that moment that her parents accepted her passion and let go of their reservations about their daughter pursuing an acting career. It was around this period that Fon Dufe began dabbling with writing her first feature screenplay. The screenplay began as being something inspirational for women and blew up into a huge film project with big players like Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Isaiah Washington, Leleti Khumalo, Uti Nwachukwu, and Kelly Price. What began as the inspirational story The Face of God became Yefon, and this movement inspired many people all over the world.

In 2012, Fon Dufe was endorsed by Jireh Lip Products in Dubai and rated by Cam movies as No. 17 on the list of Top 20 Cameroonian producers and among the list of top 50 Cameroonians to watch out for in 2013. She hosted the Cameroonian students' annual US convention in Texas and performed both on stage and in numerous student short films, including a web series called Bibi The Witch which made her eligible to join The Screen Actors Guild of America. (SAG).

2013: Breakthrough

Fon Dufe began the year 2013 by booking a national commercial for the

Fon Dufe's next film was opposite African celebrity John Dumelo. This time, it was the lead role of Kwuni in the movie Unconditional Love, a screenplay Fon Dufe co-wrote. While the movie was in post-production, Sahndra took on another role which is the biggest in her career so far. The Ghollywood (Ghana) James Cameron, Frank Rajah Arase, booked Fon Dufe in his blockbuster movie Refugees which is set for release in 2014. This time, co-starring with Yvonne Nelson, Fon Dufe played the role of Yurika, an African singer in a band fighting to make it amidst issues like race and their illegal immigration status.

Philanthropy

In 2012, Fon Dufe partnered with the American Embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to organise training for young actors through a jointly owned International Workshop.^[2] Sahndra also actively supports young female entertainers through an annual scholarship program in Lourdes College, Cameroon. She is also a voice for Project New Bamenda, a project launched to support young entrepreneurs from the North West Region of Cameroon.

Awards

Fon Dufe won several awards including a recognition by the Commonwealth of Nations for her poem “Dear mama”.

Filmography

References

External links

• Sahndra Fon Dufe at
  IMDb