By Opeyemi Adelakun
The death of veteran Nigerian actor Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, popularly known as Olu Jacobs, has brought to an end the life of one of the country’s most celebrated screen and theatre actors.
Jacobs died on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at the age of 84. His wife, veteran actress Joke Silva, and their son, Olusoji Jacobs, announced his death, with the family describing him as the “Lion of Lufodo” and asking the public to respect their privacy as they mourn.
Beyond the familiar image of the commanding Nollywood patriarch, here are 10 facts about the actor’s remarkable life and career.
- His full name was Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs
Olu Jacobs was born Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs on July 11, 1942. He was born to parents of Egba Alake origin and spent part of his childhood in Kano. He died exactly 74 years and two months after his birth.
- A performance by Hubert Ogunde helped change his life
Jacobs’ decision to pursue acting was influenced by legendary Nigerian theatre practitioner Hubert Ogunde.
As a young man in Kano, Jacobs watched one of Ogunde’s concert parties at the Colonial Hotel. The experience made a lasting impression on him and helped set him on the path towards professional acting.
- He trained at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Before becoming one of Nollywood’s most recognisable actors, Jacobs travelled to Britain and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
The training exposed him to the formal traditions of theatre and helped establish the foundation for his subsequent work on stage, television and film.
- Nollywood was not where his professional career began
Many Nigerians knew Jacobs principally through Nigerian films, but his professional career began much earlier in Britain.
He appeared in several British television productions, including The Goodies, Till Death Us Do Part, The Tomorrow People and The Professionals.
- He acted in international films before Nollywood’s rise
Jacobs also appeared in international film productions, including Ashanti, The Dogs of War, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend and Pirates.
His international work meant that his acting career had already crossed Nigerian borders long before the global rise of Nollywood.
- He returned to Nigeria in 1990
After years of working abroad, Jacobs returned to Nigeria in 1990.
One of his notable Nigerian television roles was Inspector Best Idafa in the NTA series The Third Eye, a performance that helped establish him as a major figure on Nigerian television.
- He appeared in more than 100 Nigerian films
Jacobs went on to feature in more than 100 Nigerian films, becoming one of the defining faces of his generation.
His career connected the older Nigerian theatre and television tradition with the rapidly expanding Nigerian film industry that later became known globally as Nollywood.
- His marriage to Joke Silva was also a professional partnership
Jacobs married fellow veteran actress Joke Silva in 1989.
The couple first met in 1981 at the National Theatre in Lagos and went on to build both a family and a major professional partnership.
Together, they founded and operated the Lufodo Group, with interests in film production, distribution and performing-arts education, including the Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts.
- He received some of Nigeria’s biggest entertainment honours
Jacobs won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2007.
He was also conferred with the Nigerian national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) in 2011 and received the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards Industry Merit Award in 2013.
In 2016, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Africa Movie Academy Awards.
- His legacy went beyond the screen
Jacobs was not only an actor.
His career stretched across theatre, television, film production and performing-arts education. Through the Lufodo Group and Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts, he and Silva were involved in developing the next generation of practitioners in Nigeria’s creative industry.
A career that crossed generations
Olu Jacobs belonged to a generation of Nigerian actors who worked across theatre, television and cinema before the word Nollywood became a global brand.
His career took him from Kano to London, British television and international cinema, before he became one of the most recognisable faces of Nigerian film and television.
His death also closes a chapter in the history of Nigerian acting — one marked by formal theatre training, commanding screen performances and a career that stretched across several generations.
The family, in announcing his death, said: “It is with gratitude to God for a life well lived and fought, that we announce the passing of our dear husband, father, grandfather and uncle.”
Leave a Reply