OLU JACOBS: The International Actor Who Became a Pillar of Nollywood

Nollywood has lost one of its most distinguished founding figures. Veteran actor and film executive Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, professionally known as Olu Jacobs, died on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, at the age of 84. 

For generations of Nigerian viewers, Olu Jacobs represented authority on screen. His commanding voice, measured delivery and imposing presence made him a natural choice for kings, chiefs, politicians, patriarchs and wealthy men whose families were often divided by power, inheritance or ambition. But behind those familiar Nollywood characters was a professionally trained actor whose remarkable journey stretched from Kano to the British stage, international cinema, Nigerian television and, eventually, the formative years of Nollywood.


Born in 1942 to parents from Abeokuta, Ogun State, Jacobs spent much of his childhood in Kano, where he participated in school debating and drama. His ambition to become an actor was awakened after watching one of Chief Hubert Ogunde’s travelling concert-party performances at the Colonial Hotel. Although his father initially opposed his decision, Jacobs remained determined and eventually travelled to Britain, where he trained at London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

At a time when opportunities for Black African actors in Britain were limited, Jacobs built a substantial career across theatre, television and film. His stage credits included A Taste of Honey, Richard’s Cork Leg, Julius Caesar and Tom Stoppard’s Night and Day. On British television, he appeared in productions including The Goodies, Till Death Us Do Part, Barlow at Large, Angels, The Tomorrow People, The Professionals, Rumpole of the Bailey and The Witches and the Grinnygog. His international film credits included Ashanti, The Dogs of War, Disney’s Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend and Roman Polanski’s Pirates. Long before Nollywood had a name, Olu Jacobs had already established himself as an international actor.

He eventually brought that experience home. Nigerian television audiences came to know him as Inspector Best Idafa in the popular NTA detective series The Third Eye. As the home-video industry expanded, Jacobs moved naturally into Nollywood, becoming one of the experienced professionals who connected the discipline of theatre and television with the energy of the emerging film industry.

Across scores of productions, he became celebrated for portraying kings, chiefs, politicians, businessmen and family patriarchs. Yet it was not merely the authority of the characters that made him memorable. His deep voice, controlled delivery, expressive pauses and commanding presence could transform even a familiar role into a compelling performance. His later films included Dancing Heart, Owo Okuta, The Antique, Oloibiri, Dry and The Lost Daughter

Jacobs won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Dancing Heart in 2007. He later received the Industry Merit Award at the 2013 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards and an AMAA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. In 2011, he was conferred with the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, MFR.

Olu Jacobs with his wife, Ajoke Silva. Together, they built remarkable individual careers and became one of Nollywood’s longest-standing and most respected couples.

His story was also closely connected to that of his wife and fellow actor, Joke Silva. They met during rehearsals at the National Theatre in Lagos in 1981 and went on to become one of Nollywood’s longest-standing and most respected couples, building a remarkable personal and creative partnership that endured for more than four decades. Through the Lufodo Group and Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts, they invested in production, professional training and the development of younger performers.

In his later years, Jacobs withdrew from public life after being diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. But his legacy had already been secured. He connected several eras of Nigerian performance—from the travelling theatre tradition that inspired him to British repertory theatre, international cinema, Nigerian television and modern Nollywood.

Olu Jacobs did not merely become a Nollywood veteran. He arrived with international experience, embraced the developing industry and helped give it credibility, discipline and institutional memory. The Lion of Lufodo may have left the stage, but his voice, presence and contribution to African cinema will remain impossible to forget.

His family described him as “The Lion of Lufodo” and expressed gratitude for “a life well lived and fought.”

May his soul rest in perfect peace.