By Wycliff G; Ugandan versatile singer Cindy Sanyu seems now set to walk down the aisle especially after landing heart on her ‘dream man’, Joel Okuyo Atiku Prynce, a renowned film star.
The ‘Boom party’ hitmaker let the cat out of the bag earlier this week when she shared a video on her social media of Joel proposing to her in what seemed to be a bar.
“So, on 2.02.2020, I said yes (Please ignore the bad footage, it’s from the waitress),” she wrote and accompanied with a video.
The two love birds’ relationship is said to have bubbled during the ‘Bella’ movie acting in 2017 where Cindy featured as the main character and Joel as the supporting actor and DOP.
Close friends also affirm that the couple has dated for quite long though had decided to keep their deep intimacy and love ingredients unmasked until the right time.
“Allow me be the first to break it down for you. After suspecting my friend for a very long time for having an affair with Cindy Sanyu. Even asking him about the videos I used to see her posting on her Instagram of her playing basketball with him. He denied the allegations and told me he was just a friend in the industry but this morning. Was a different one as my suspicions about them being close to each other came to life as Okuyo Joel Atiku Prynce a.k.a Lynx asks for Cindy’s hand in marriage,” revealed a close friend to Atiku.
Joel Okuyo Atiku Prynce is a Ugandan actor, model, photographer and lecturer at Uganda Christian University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration (BSWSA) plus Makerere University, the Best Two Campuses in Uganda. His film acting breakthrough came when he was cast as the Devil’s reincarnation in Ugandan director Matt Bish’s 2007 Film Battle of the Souls, a popular Ugawood Movie. It was based on the real-life story of the director’s brother, KFM Radio Presenter Roger Mugisha. He is also featured as a supporting actor and DOP in local singer Cindy Sanyu’s movie “Bella” in 2017 directed by Matt Bish. Joel is also the President of his own company The Lhynnq-X, Inc.
Born in Arua on 4 December 1983 to a Lugbara couple, Major Gabriel Francis Atiku and Yema Drakuru Atiku, his debut villain role won him over five international accolades including Best Supporting Actor at the Balafon Film Festival in Bari, Italy (2008) and 2009’s Best Actor in Supporting Role at the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in Lagos, Nigeria.
Other awards include Best Actor at both Ubuntu Village, Colorado (USA) in 2010 and the 2011 Zanzibar International Film Festival [ZIFF] in Tanzania. Ugandan newspaper The Observer labelled Okuyo Africa’s Brad Pitt.
Joel enjoys drawing (Art), fashion, film acting, modelling, meeting new friends, humanitarianism, playing basketball, guitar, swimming, fishing, reading, cooking, writing and travelling.
His mother recalls that Joel started acting by copying his father’s walking style at age 4 plus things he watched on TV or saw at school. By Primary Five, he had won his first award and kept acting throughout his school experience. Okuyo also joined MITG (Music & Instrumental Training Group), an Arua-based Drama Group that championed European Union AIDS Intervention Programmes in West Nile.
Joel has acted in many films and plays, both local and international plus worked with world class directors such as Michael Landon, Jr., Gabriel Range, Adrian McFarlane, Ruman Kudwai, Yuval Shefferman and fellow countryman Matt Bish (Full name: Matthew Bishanga). Joel played roles in feature films like State Research Bureau (S.R.B.) plus TV Series like Locked Up Abroad, Raised Wild and Lost in Africa.
The Maisha Film Lab short films he acted in after training at Mira Nair’s annual film academy include On Time (2008) directed by Patricia Olwoch, Looserpool, Live Joseph and Estranged (where he played a lead role) directed by Sandra Kosse.
Other shorts he has featured in include Fruits of Love, Journey to Jamaa as Lucky, Haunted Souls and A Good Catholic Girl directed by Matt Bish (which was included in Africa First: Volume Two, an anthology of five short films from new African filmmakers).
He was the face of BlackBerry Curve (MTN Uganda) in 2007. Then in 2009, he became a runway model at V.I.P fashion night in Lagos, Nigeria. He has worked as a model at Vanity Models (Verona, Italy) and Uganda’s Gorgeous Fashions. Joel’s face also appears in SAB Miller Television, Billboard & Print Media advertisements for beer brands such as Stone Lager in Ghana, Safari Lager in Tanzania and Nile Special Lager in his home country, all directed by Mark Lawrie for The Videolounge. Other TV commercials include Warid Telecom (Congo Brazzaville) directed by Steve Jean; Warid (Uganda), Stanbic Bank and Johns Hopkins University directed by Carolyn Kamya plus Bank of Uganda directed by Matt Bish.
He was the first male to appear in the African Woman Magazine’s ‘All Lights On’ Segment in 2010.
Joel appeared in the promo for Love Makanika (TV series), one of the first programmes aired on Pearl Magic that went digital on GoTv beginning Monday 1 October 2018.
We shall keep you posted
