While the southern part of the country , either the Igbo-language movie industry or Yoruba-language industry and even the english-speaking industry have conveniently come to be called Nollywood,  but the northern movie industry has distinguished itself as a separate movie industry which is called Kannywood, with the base in Kano.

Nollywood, of course is the heart and soul of the Nigerian movie industry and Kannywood may be seen as the appendage, but one which has grown from strength to strength with no less razzmatazz and fortune. Kannywood may not be able to match Nollywood pound for pound, in glitz and glamour, but the Hausa-language movie industry has its own bragging rights.

In this piece, Saturday Quickie gives you a quickie glimpse of the beauties ruling the cinema screens up north and they are as beautiful and captivating as their southern colleagues. Here are 10 of the most beautiful and most talented. The compilation was done in collaboration with Kannywood Celebrities, an Instagram account on lifestyle of Kannywood stars.

Rukayya Umar Sanda

Best known as Dawayya, on account of her debut movie “Dawayya” which brought her to limelight in Kannywood. She is beautiful, easy-going, full of life and friendly. She was married and later divorced. She has 859 thousand followers on Instagram as at press time.

Maryam Yahaya

Maryam Yahaya is a Nigerian film actor in the Kannywood industry. She gained recognition for starring in Mansoor, a movie directed by Ali Nuhu. For her role, Maryam Yahaya was nominated as Best Promising Actress by City People Entertainment Awards in 2017. She has 935 thousand followers on Instagram.

Aysha Aliyu Tsamiya

Aisha Aliyu Tsamiya was born in Nasarawa Local Government in Kano State. As the actress was born in the year 1992, Aisha Aliyu Tsamiya age is only 26 as of 2018. She studied at Giginyu Primary and Secondary School. Her followers on Instagram stand at 536 thousand.

Rahama Sadau

Rahama Sadau is an actress, filmmaker, and singer. Born and raised in Kaduna, Rahama performed in many dancing competitions as a child and during her school year. She rose to fame in late 2013, a few months after joining Kannywood movie Industry with her first movie Gani ga Wane, as one of the best selling movies.

Rahama appears in many nigerian movies in both Hausa and English languages and has been one of the only Nigerian actors that speaks Chinese language fluently. She is the winner of Best Actress (Kannywood) at the City People Entertainment Awards in 2014 and 2015. She has 1.6 million followers on Instagram

Hafsat Idris

Hafsat Ahmad Idris also known as Hafsat Idris is an indigene of Kano State, but she was born and raised in Shagamu, Ogun State. Hafsat Idris is known for her debut and lead role in the movie ‘Barauniya', which marked a turning point in her acting career. She was nominated as the most promising Kannywood actress of the year in 2017 by City People Movie Award. She boasts of over 1 million followers on Instagram

Maryam Ado Mohammed

Known professionally as Maryam Booth, Maryam Ado Mohammed is also a model and fashion designer. She started acting at the age of 8 years. She is the face of AMMA and Afrohollywood Best Supporting actress. She has 1.1 million followers on Instagram

Bilkisu Shema

Bilkisu Shema was born on July 8, 1994. As a popular Kannywood actress she has been nominated by City People Movie Award for Kannywood Best Supporting Actress of the Year. She has 509 thousand followers on Instagram as at press time.

Nafisat Abdullahi

Nafisat Abdulrahman Abdullahi also known as Nafisat Abdullahi, is a Nigerian actress from Jos, in Plateau State. She received a City People Entertainment Award in 2013 for Best Actress and a Kannywood Award in 2014 for Best Kannywood Actress, Popular Choice Award. She has 1.2 million followers.

Hadiza Aliyu

Hadiza Aliyu also known as Hadiza Gabon, is a Nigerian professional actress and filmmaker, she acts in both Hausa and English movies. Aged 30, she was born in Libreville, Gabon and resides in Kaduna. She had been nominated for City People Movie Award for Best Kannywood Actress of the Year. She has 1.4 million followers on Instagram.

Fatima Abdullahi

With 1.2 million followers on Instagram, Fatima Abdullahi's popularity cannot be questioned. Known widely as Fati Washa, she's beautiful and highly talented.