Sarian Martin (Queen Sari): Nollywood Actress, Career and Business

Sarian Martin Oruene, who works under the names Sarian Martin and Queen Sari, is a Nigerian actress, producer, event host and businesswoman from Bayelsa State. She trained as a fine artist at Niger Delta University, won campus beauty pageants, and moved to Lagos to act full time in 2019. Her breakthrough came in 2021 with the Africa Magic series Freda, and she has since appeared in dozens of Nollywood productions. This profile sticks to what she has said in published interviews and what reputable outlets have reported, and it says plainly where sources disagree.

Quick Facts

Detail	Information and source
Name	Sarian Martin Oruene; known as Queen Sari (The Guardian Nigeria, 2023)
Reported date and place of birth	12 January 1997, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State (Legit.ng); not confirmed by a primary source
Origin	Ijaw, from Nembe and Ogbia areas of Bayelsa State, in her own words (Punch, July 2025)
Education	Fine Arts, Niger Delta University (Guardian interview)
Professional acting start	2019, after university (Guardian interview)
Breakthrough role	Amaka in Freda, Africa Magic Original Series, 2021 (Guardian; Legit.ng)
Other work	Producer, TV and event host, salon and spa owner, hotelier (Guardian interview)

Early life and education

Sarian Martin grew up in Bayelsa State, in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria. In a July 2025 interview with Punch she described herself as Ijaw, raised in a Christian home in the Nembe area, and said she first performed in church drama groups and school plays. She told the Guardian in 2023 that she did her first production in secondary school and later in church, and that she came from a Christian family with roots in Nembe and Ogbia. Legit.ng gives her birth date as 12 January 1997 and her birthplace as Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital. We could not find a birth record or an official profile that confirms this, so treat the date, and the age that follows from it, as reported rather than verified.

She studied Fine Arts at Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, and has said she schooled in Bayelsa through university. Several profiles repeat this, but the primary source is her own statement to the Guardian. Her art degree is relevant to her later work: she has described running an interiors business alongside acting, which fits a visual-arts background, although no source we found links the two directly.

Pageants and modelling

Before acting full time, Sarian Martin was known as a beauty queen. She told Punch that she began modelling at Niger Delta University and entered a pageant in her first year, even though she was told first-year students never won, and she did. Legit.ng lists several titles: Miss Niger Delta University (2015), Miss Pentico Style (2017), and first runner-up in the Face of University Nigeria pageant. These come from a single biography site, so the exact years should be double-checked before they are used elsewhere. She credits pageants with building her confidence and has described seeing her face on a billboard as a turning point for her self-esteem.

Moving into acting

According to her Guardian interview, she came to Lagos and “officially” took acting up as a career in 2019, after finishing university. She has said her mother, a businesswoman, wanted her to finish school and establish a business before acting, so that she would not be desperate for roles. Punch quotes her saying she first took over her mother’s business and entered acting when she was more financially stable. She has also said she trained herself in acting and that she chose roles with a “learner’s mindset” rather than only for money.

Her breakthrough was Amaka in Freda, an Africa Magic original about a wealthy blogger who tries to keep her partner from earning more than she does. The Guardian and Legit.ng both name this as the role that brought her attention. Other titles named in the Guardian include Over and Over Again, A Toast to Forever and And Call to Bar. Legit.ng adds Colours of Love, Loving Samira, Expensive Househelps and Mr Lecturer. IMDb Pro lists dozens of 2023 to 2025 credits under variations of her name, including Sarian Martin, Sarian Martin Oruene and Sarian Oruene, which is one reason her filmography is hard to search. Legit.ng and FilmFlux both say she has appeared in more than 50 productions; we could not independently count them.

Roles and on-screen style

Her best-known work is in romantic dramas and comedies, and she told Punch she is drawn to love stories and to stories that carry Niger Delta culture. She said she has played roles in Hausa and Igbo settings and described using an Akwa Ibom accent for a part after advice from actor Ramsey Nouah on the set of Merry Men: that being pretty and talented is not enough, and that she needed to do something the audience does not expect. She named Maurice Sam, Frederick Leonard, Deza, Timini and Daniel Etim Effiong among co-stars she likes working with. Legit.ng also lists Jim Iyke, Bimbo John and Nadia Buari as people she has worked alongside.

Producing and business

Alongside acting she produces her own films. IMDb Pro credits her as producer on Tari Love (2024) and as executive producer on A Place Called Love (2024). In Punch she called producing the biggest challenge and the biggest reward of her career, because producers invest money without knowing whether it will be recovered. Legit.ng reports that she runs a YouTube channel, Sarian Martin TV, with films and behind-the-scenes content.

Her business interests are described in her own words in the 2023 Guardian interview: a beauty salon and spa, interior design, sand supply, humanitarian work, event hosting, and hotel management. We found no company registration or independent report that confirms the size or names of these businesses, so they are presented as her description of them. Legit.ng also says she received a Fame Icon Award for Entrepreneur of the Year in 2023; we could not find the awarding body’s own announcement.

Public image and speculation

Online speculation about celebrities’ appearance is common, and the search interest behind this article’s old title shows that readers are curious about it. Legit.ng notes that some commentators have speculated about cosmetic procedures from comparisons of older and newer photos, and states that she has never addressed the claims. We do not repeat or assess that speculation here: there is no reliable evidence, it concerns her body and health, and it is not something she has confirmed. In Punch she spoke generally about cosmetic changes, saying people should do what makes them confident if it can be done safely, which is an opinion and not a statement about herself.

On relationships, Legit.ng says she was single as of 2025 and has rarely discussed her private life, and that rumours linking her with actor Maurice Sam have been denied by both. We have not found a primary statement either way for 2026, so this article does not describe her relationship status as current.

What her interviews suggest about her approach

Across the Guardian and Punch interviews a few themes recur. She presents herself as someone who built financial stability first and acting second. She stresses preparation, saying she reads scripts closely, thinks about what the character feels, and pays attention to costumes. She has said she would do whatever a role required, including looking rugged or filming in difficult conditions. And she describes faith as central: she told Punch she is a church-going person who attends night vigils. These are self-descriptions, but they are consistent across outlets and years, which is the strongest kind of evidence available for a personal profile like this.

What we could not verify

• Her exact date and place of birth: only secondary sites, led by Legit.ng, give 12 January 1997.
• Number of siblings: Punch quotes her as the youngest of seven siblings, Legit.ng says four, and the Guardian describes a family of seven. We omit family details beyond what she has said herself.
• The pageant titles and years, and the 2023 Fame Icon Award: single-source.
• The “more than 50 productions” count and her full filmography: credits appear under several name variants.
• Her businesses: described only in her own interview, with no independent confirmation.
• Her current relationship status and any cosmetic-procedure speculation: unconfirmed, and deliberately not covered.

Sources

• The Guardian Nigeria
• Punch
• Legit.ng
• IMDb Pro
• FilmFlux

Last reviewed October 2026. If you spot an error, see our Corrections page.