Sam Okyere biography: wife, children, Korea, movies and TV shows
Sam Okyere is the most influential foreign entertainer in Korean show business. Baffling, right? The Ghanaian television personality fluency in Ashanti Twi dialect, Korean, English, French and Swahili is a puzzling case. How did he get to be multilingual and become famous in the Asian country? Probably a peek into his background, and current life would provide more insight.
Source: UGC
Today, Sam is popular, a status that he would have hardly dreamt about when first arriving in South Korea. Gradually, he found a way of converting negative experiences in a foreign country into positive ones. Indeed, he has a fascinating story of humble beginnings to world-renowned stardom.
Sam Okyere profile summary
- Name: Same Okyere
- Date of birth: April 21, 1991
- Age as of 2021: 29 years old
- Place of birth: Accra, Ghana
- Nationality: Ghanaian
- Zodiac sign: Taurus
- Occupation: Television personality
- Height: 184 cm
- Hair colour: Black
- Eye colour: Black
Sam’s biography
How old is Sam Okyere? Sam Okyere was born on April 21, 1991, in Ghana and will be thirty years old in April 2021. How did the Ghanaian manage to work his way from a simple student to a regular panellist of popular variety television shows and movies?
Not much is known about Okyere’s background. Sam went to Korea because of his educational interests. He applied for a South Korean scholarship and was accepted a year later. This was the Korean Government Scholarship program in 2009 for Computer Engineering at Sogang University in Seoul.
Sam's experiences in South Korea during the first days brought him face-to-face with racism, which made him more interested in their culture and language. This way, he learnt their dialect, which he became very fluent and created many friends along the way.
How did Sam Okyere learn Korean?
Upon arriving in South Korea, Sam realised that the best way to become part of the culture was to learn Korean. He had the following to say during an interview with NextShark:
I realised instead of always complaining about the fact that they're ignorant, why don't I do something to change it? I really wanted to break that whole thing of colourism. I didn't want to be the black friend; I wanted to be the friend.
This motivated him to learn Korean, which was likely through both the classroom environment and interacting with the locals. This provided Sam Okyere with the foundation he needed to keep going forward. Today, he sounds as if he was born in the country and not in Africa because of his amazing language grasp.
Career
Although Sam Okyere didn’t imagine being a famous television personality upon arriving in South Korea, necessity called for his participation. In many interviews, Sam Okyere has openly talked about the unpleasant realities of racism in South Korea and his frustrations during his first months.
He contemplated leaving the country and return to his homeland, but a Korean convinced him to stay and face the issues head-on. And it worked perfectly for him. Today, Sam is a renowned television personality, liked because of his wit, joviality and expressiveness of his points of view. The media has been pivotal in helping him bridge the gap between Africa and Korea.
He noticed that Korean media had allowed foreigners into their shows to get them involved in the Korean culture. This way, Sam Okyere started getting gigs that would eventually establish him as the most famous black person in South Korea with a profound presence on the screen.
Sam's career started when he appeared on the KBS talk show Hello Counsellor, whereby he conversed about his challenges with racism. His expression at the show touched numerous people in South Korea, making him an instant hit.
Interestingly, Sam also sings, models and hosts his radio show. In 2017, Sam was named in Forbes 30 under 30 in Entertainment and Sports in Asia.
Sam Okyere movies and TV shows
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Sam Okyere is very popular and has featured on various movies and television shows. In 2013, he debuted on TV on the tvN series Island Village Teacher whereby foreign celebrities teach local pupils on an island. His capability of communicating fluently in the Korean language gave him this opportunity and many more.
Later, he secured a regular role in the JTBC talk show Non-Summit and made guest appearances on the game show Running Man. Additionally, he appeared on Happy Together and the 2015 MBC series Warm and Cozy. Sam won the Global Star Award at the eighth Korea Drama Awards for his appearance in Warm and Cozy.
Sam is a regular at various variety shows and is continuously working with production companies for television series and films. He uses these opportunities to create awareness about his home in his adopted home in South Korea.
Is Sam Okyere married or dating?
You are probably wondering about Sam Okyere wife and children. Does he have a wife and kids? Sam is yet to walk down the aisle. He is very private about his dating life and is probably seeing someone that he has not opened up to the public yet.
At some point, Sam Okyere and Abigail were a trending topic; people speculating that they were in a relationship. He confessed in a KBS session that indeed they had romanced and he had feelings for her. However, he has put everything in the past and moved on.
This means the Sam Okyere child stories are not true and probably borrowed from some of the movies that he has worked on. For instance, in the movie, Intimate Enemies, Sam Okyere, Hyeon-kyeong Ryu and Egypt Yuna Collier star as a Blasian family.
Sam Okyere net worth
Sam earns a modest amount from his television gigs that have elevated his Korean entertainment industry status. His net worth is estimated to be between $100,000 and $5 million.
What happened to Sam Okyere?
Source: UGC
On August 2020, Sam took to Instagram to condemn the utilisation of Blackface in a graduation photo by students from a high school in South Korea. His Instagram post was met with great backlash and criticism.
He was accused of criticising the incident in an ill-natured way and not asking for permission to repost the image. He ended up deleting the post following the harsh comments.
Sam Okyere is indeed the most famous black person in South Korea. His popularity has allowed him to talk about racism in a foreign country, making South Koreans alter their perspective about Africans.
Yen.com.gh on January 5 featured an interesting piece about Michelle Attoh, a gorgeous Ghanaian model and TV personality. She is very popular in the Ghanaian entertainment industry and has been part of different shows that make her stand out.
Did you know Michelle was born in Ghana but raised in Italy until she was 12 years old? She also relocated to Ivory Coast, where she advanced her education. Michelle's background has obviously influenced her professionalism in the entertainment industry, making her one of the best.
Source: YEN.com.gh
