Emmanuella Samuel is the name of the super-talented child celebrity actor Emmanuella on the Mark Angel Comedy series on YouTube. Emmanuella was born on 22nd July 2010 and will be 10 years on her next birthday. She is an actress and a comedian with many awards and recognition from the industry.
Emmanuella has come a long way from when she first entered the acting scene. As a child, she likely faces challenges adapting to the screen as well as enjoying a normal childhood. Some of these will be further elaborated upon in the course of this article. But before we delve into the full biography of Emmanuel, let us first consider some important facts about her.
9 facts about Emmanuella every one should know
- Emmanuella’s real name is Emmanuella Samuel, showing that Mark Angel Comedy uses the real name of most of the actors on its skits.
- She was born in Port Harcourt on 22nd July 2010. However, she is from Imo State. Hence, Emmanuella is currently nine years old but she will be 10 years old come 22nd July 2020.
- Mark Angel is not Emmanuella’s father but rather her uncle, which maker her his niece.
- James Samuel is the name of Emmanuella’s father while her mother’s name is Cynthia Samuel.
- Emmanuella started to act in Mark Angel Comedy skits in 2015 when she was just five years old.
- The young star first appeared on the 36th episode of the Mark Angel Comedy Channel which is titled Am Not Around. The episode s credited as the first Mark Angel skit to go viral.
- Emmanuella is the only Nigerian child-actor to have starred in a Disney movie although the movie has not yet been released and is presumably in post-production.
- Emmanuella Samuel and Success Samuel are actually sisters and both are nieces to Mark Angel. Success also stars in the Mark Angel Comedy series.
- Emmanuella won the award for the Best New Comedienne and Princess of Comedy at the Afro-Australia Music and Movie Awards in Australia in 2016.
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What is Emmanuella’s real name?
Emmanuella’s real name is Emmanuella Samuel but she is commonly known by her first name, Emmanuella, the name she uses in comedy.
Which state is Emmanuella from?
Emmanuel is from Imo state, the state of her parents. However, she was born in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where she still lives with her family.
How old is Emmanuella?
Emmanuel is presently nine years old although she will be 10 years old later on her birthday this year. She was born on 22nd July 2010 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Who are Emmanuella’s parents?
Emmanuella’s father’s name is James Samuel while her mother’s name is Cynthia Samuel. However, Emmanuel is said to have lived with the Angel family.
According to her uncle, Mark Angel, the child star has grown up with him and his family as part of a large extended family. Angel had mentioned that their family is a close-knit one. However, according to Legit, Emmanuella currently lives with her parents in Port Harcourt.
Emmanuella currently attends Brighton Gate Academy in Port Harcourt.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/B4pE7QKnkvr/
Emmanuella Biography: Comedy career
When Mark Angel first embarked on his comedy career in 2013, the initial plan had not included the young comedian. In fact, she didn’t appear in any of the first 35 Mark Angel comedy episodes. However, prior to her appearance on the scene, Mark Angel Comedy series was limping. Despite all the hard work and creativity, there was little success.
Then, in 2015, Emmanuella was included in the comedy skit titled Am Not Around. She was about five years old at the time.
Her acting helped Mark Angel’s comedy to gain traction and the episode became the first Mark Angel Comedy video to go viral. The episode currently has over 1.1 million views on YouTube.
It is instructive that Emmanulla did not get featured in the comedy based on her familial relationship with Mark Angel. The child actor was required to go through an audition process just like every other child who showed interest in appearing in the series. According to reports, she gave an outstanding audition, which separated her from the rest of the kids.
Once Mark Angel decided to feature Emmanuella in his skits, he met with her parents to see seek their permission and possibly negotiate terms.
And for her first shooting, Emmanuella was said to have gone through an 18-hour shooting schedule without complaining, which shows how resilient the young actor is. We can see the commitment in her acting and other projects and it is easy to forget that she is still a child. Fortunately, Emmanuella seems to enjoy what she does and seems to have a good rapport with the other actors.
In the 48th episode of the Mark Angel Comedy series, both Emmanuella and her uncle struck gold. The release of My Real Face saw the comedy duo gain more prominence than they likely had imagined. At the moment, that video has garnered over 6 million views on YouTube.
It didn’t take long after that for Emmanuella to regularly star on the comedy videos helping the channel to reach the 1 million subscribers mark in 2017. For this achievement, YouTube acknowledged Mark Angel with a plaque. It also became the first African comedy channel to reach that count of YouTube subscribers.
Furthermore, Emmanuella’s success on the comedy show has paved way for many other children to feature on the Mark Angel Comedy skits. Some children like Success and Chukwuemeka have become regular faces as well.
Emmanuella and Mark Angel
The iconic partnership between Emmanuella and Mark Angel has led to speculations by some of their fans that they are a father and daughter duo. This is understandably a more endearing relationship. However, Mark Angel has made it clear that Emmanuella is not his daughter but rather his niece.
Their strong understanding may have also come from the fact that they lived together as we have disclosed above. While in discussion with The PUNCH, Mark Angel had said about Emmanuella Samuel:
“No, she is not. She is my niece. She has lived with my family ever since she was born even though her parents are alive. We are a large family and we lived together in the past.”
He also talked about her obedience even at an early stage as the reason why he could cast her on his videos. Mark Angel said Emmanuella was always talented and showed a hint of comical character before she started acting. His words:
“When she was born, we realised she was capable of being influenced positively. She did everything she was told to do even though she was really young. Also, we realised that she was talented. We simply groomed her and introduced her to showbiz.”
Still talking about Emmanuella, Mark Angel revealed that like all children, it takes patience to work with her. He said that the crew helped her to get her lines with special attention.
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“We try to make her form a mental picture of whatever we want her to do,” he revealed. “She, in turn, interprets it the best way she understands it. Sometimes, we have to go through the process over and over again before accomplishing what we want. As a smart child, she asks why she is made to do a particular thing in a particular way and we explain to her,” he added.
Also, Mark Angel mentioned, as we noted above, that when he decided that Emmanuel Samuel will start featuring on his skits, he met with her parents. Despite them being relations, he had to get their permission. This would have also likely included monetary compensations. However, he has never revealed how much he pays Emmanuella for her roles in his skits.
Emmanuella and ‘Aunty’ Success
Emmanuella Samuel and Success Samuel are actually biological sisters and both are nieces to Mark Angel. While Emmanuella had started acting in 2015, Success was a more recent inclusion in the Mark Angel Comedy channel.
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Success’ nickname on the skits is Aunty and she is six years old at the time of writing. She was born on 19th July 2013.
Once while she was away from Nigeria on a trip, Emmanuella had said she missed her sister during an interview.
Emmanuella’s comedy style
While Mark Angel had mentioned in the past that they use scripts for acting, he has also disclosed at one time that the Mark Angel Comedy’s style is actually freestyle and not rigid. He says he makes comedy that people close to him like. His rationale is that if a skit makes his friends laugh, then it will make other people laugh as well.
In this kind of environment, Emmanuella has found flexibility and room to improvise. Thus, despite the fact that she started acting while still in primary 1 (Basic One), she has found a way to enjoy a normal childhood both on the set and off it.
Emmanuella Disney (Hollywood) and international films appearance
Not many realise how popular Emmanuella Samuel has become over the years. Back in 2018, the child star was chosen by Disney to star in a Hollywood film. While there is not much information about what the film was about, Emmanuella revealed the information herself via an Instagram post which she shared:
“Thanks @disneystudios God bless everyone whose support has added to bringing us here. I never dreamed of being here so soon. I miss Success. I love you all.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfS1Cccgfqq/
After she got the role, then Nigerian Senate President, Bukola Saraki, invited Emmanuella to the Senate house. According to Saraki, the invitation was to discuss how to develop young talents in the Nigerian creative industry. He described Emmanuella as an inspiration.
In addition to appearing in a Disney film, Emmanuella was also said to be on the set of an Australian film titled Survive or Die. The film was said to have been shot in 2016 and released in 201.
Emanuella Samuel starred in the Australian movie, Survive or Die. It was filmed in 2016 and released in 2018. pic.twitter.com/T3jLlE56ax
— Africa Facts Zone (@AfricaFactsZone) September 1, 2019
Watch the trailer for Survive or Die starring Emmanuella below:
Emmanuella builds a new house for her mother
In November 2020, Emmanuella shared a social media post in which she revealed that she has built a new house for her mother. The beautiful house is a bungalow, which was tastefully furnished.
Sharing photos of the new house on her Instagram page, Emmanuella expressed her gratitude to her mother and promised to erect a better mansion for her next year.
“I built this for you mom. For all the prayers, all the encouragement and support. Mummy I know you said you want a portable house and this is it. But forgive me because I must complete ur mansion for you next year. Don’t worry it won’t make us go to hell. my super Christmas mummy. I love you,” Emmanuella wrote on Instagram.
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Emmanuella Biography: Awards and recognitions
Emmanuella won an award for the Best New Comedienne and Princess of Comedy at the Afro-Australia Music and Movie Awards in Australia in 2016. Also, Mark Angel Comedy won Best Sub-Saharan Channel at the YouTube Awards in 2017. And as we have seen, Emmanuella contributed to the success of the channel.
Emmanuella’s net worth
We do not a verified source of information for Emmanuella Samuel’s net worth. However, there are many speculations concerning the net worth of the YouTube comedian. Various publications have quoted some figures as to what they believe the talented child actress is worth but there is no way to verify those figures.
While the Mark Angel Comedy series has been successful, Mark Angel has never publicly stated how much his channels make nor how much he pays his cast and crew including Emmanuella.
Besides the money it makes from the YouTube Partnership Program (estimated at between $98.7K to $1.6M annual by the statistics site Socal Blade), the channel regularly has sponsors on its shows, which definitely brings in some revenue. Note that YouTube channels have been known to earn both north and south of Social Blade’s estimation although the website usually provides a good insight on the likely revenue a channel generates.
There are also regular comedy shows that Emmanuella attends both nationally and internationally, however, there is no public record of what the comedian earns.
Furthermore, Emmanuella also must have earned some fees for the Hollywood and Australian films she was cast in.
In November 2017, Emmanuella signed an endorsement deal with Blue Boat Fresh Yo. The deal is alleged to be worth millions of naira.
Also, in 2017, she appeared in an ad for Wikipedia and we are not sure of how much she made from doing the video.
Emmanuella is also a brand influencer for telecommunication giant MTN.
Based on these obvious sources of income, Qib put Emmanuella’s net worth at $30,000. On the other hand, The Nation Online claimed that the child star Emmanuella Samuel is worth about $90,000 (over N30 million). The publication further ranked her ahead of such Nigerian child celebrities as Ahmed Star Boy, Destiny Boy and DJ Young Money. However, as we noted above, these figures are just assumptions as there are no public record of what the actress earns.
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Final thoughts …
Emmanuella has become a household name in comedy despite starting out as just an addition to an already running show. The child comedian has so far evolved and matured on screen but also remained a child off the set.
Her uncle, Mark Angel, also deserves some praise for creating an opportunity for her and shielding her from the negative side of fame. Since she became popular, Emmanuelle is recognised all over the world.
We are happy for this talented child and wish her all the best for the future.
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