For a few years, the rumours about his death were almost spread every time. Almost yearly. Maybe due to his ill health, but he was kicking and thriving.
And now, the curtain finally fell. There are actors who entertain you, actors who make you believe them, and then there are those whose presence becomes inseparable from the history of the art itself Actors who make the make-believe world seem like reality and you get so confused.
Olu Jacobs belonged to the last category. This man eats English like pap. I love watching Bàbá and Mama Taiwo Ajai-Lycett as a child just to mimic how they speak. They both speak impeccable English!
For generations of Nigerians and Africans, the sight of that imposing figure, the measured voice, the deliberate delivery and the unmistakable authority with which he inhabited every character were enough to command attention. Whether he was playing a king, a patriarch, a police officer, a politician, a businessman or a troubled father, Olu Jacobs did not merely act the part; he gave it a life of its own.
On September 16, 2026, that remarkable life came to an end. The veteran actor and film executive, born Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, died at the age of 84. His death was announced by his family, with his son, Olusoji Jacobs, confirming the news. The family paid tribute to him as “The Lion of Lufodo” and asked for privacy as they mourned.
And so, the curtain has finally fallen. But what a performance it was. Born on July 11, 1942, to parents from Egba Alake, Jacobs spent his early years in Kano, where he attended Holy Trinity School. Even as a young man, the stage was already calling.
He participated in debating and drama societies, but it was an encounter with the legendary theatre practitioner Hubert Ogunde that would change the direction of his life. Jacobs watched one of Ogunde’s annual concert parties at the Colonial Hotel in Kano and was captivated by what he saw. The experience planted in him the conviction that acting could become more than an interest. It could become a life’s work.
He eventually travelled to England to pursue that dream and trained at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. The young Nigerian actor soon found himself working on British stages and television. One of his early stage appearances was in A Taste of Honey at the newly opened Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 1972.
From there came appearances in several British television productions, including The Goodies, Till Death Us Do Part, Barlow at Large, The Venturers, Angels, 1990, The Tomorrow People and The Professionals. In 1978, he played President Mageeba in a production of Tom Stoppard’s Night and Day.
For a Nigerian actor of his generation, this was no small achievement. Long before Nollywood became a global brand, Olu Jacobs was already taking Nigerian talent onto international stages and screens. The 1980s expanded his international profile. He appeared in films including The Dogs of War, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend and Roman Polanski’s Pirates. His television credits also included The Witches and the Grinnygog. But Nigeria would eventually reclaim its son.
When Jacobs returned home in 1990, he joined the Nigerian television landscape in a major way, appearing in the NTA detective series The Third Eye. From there, his career became increasingly intertwined with the growth of the Nigerian film industry. He would go on to appear in more than 120 Nollywood films, establishing himself as one of the industry’s most recognisable and respected performers.
Yet reducing Olu Jacobs to the number of films in which he appeared would be to miss the real story. His importance lay in what he represented. He was part of a generation that carried the discipline of theatre into Nigerian film and television.
His training, stage experience and command of language gave his performances a distinct gravitas. He could make silence meaningful, a glance intimidating and an ordinary line unforgettable. He was also not content to remain merely an actor.
He pursued more. Together with his wife, the equally distinguished actress Joke Silva, he became involved in building the Lufodo Group, with interests spanning media, film production and distribution. The couple also established the Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts, contributing to the training and development of another generation of performers.
His marriage to Joke Silva became one of the most enduring partnerships in Nigeria’s entertainment industry. Their relationship was not simply a celebrated celebrity union; it was also a creative partnership between two accomplished actors who understood the demands of their craft.
Recognition followed Jacobs throughout the latter part of his career. In 2007, he won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. In 2013, he received the Industry Merit Award at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards for his outstanding contribution to acting. In 2016, the Africa Movie Academy Awards honoured him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
He was also honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 AFRIFF Globe Awards for his contribution to the Nigerian film industry. He earned it!
These awards were not simply decorations accumulated over a long career. They were markers of the extraordinary distance he travelled—from a young boy in Kano inspired by Hubert Ogunde to a formally trained actor working in Britain, an international film performer, and eventually one of the defining faces of Nollywood.
For many Nigerians, however, Olu Jacobs was much more than an award-winning actor. He was a voice. He was a presence. He was a standard. There was something reassuring about watching him on screen. He belonged to an era when actors were expected to understand the weight of words, the discipline of preparation and the responsibility that came with representing a profession.
His influence extended beyond the characters he played. Younger actors inherited, directly or indirectly, the possibilities that performers such as Jacobs had helped create. He demonstrated that a Nigerian actor could be thoroughly rooted in homegrown storytelling while possessing the training and range to operate on an international stage.
And perhaps that is why his death feels like more than the loss of a famous actor. It feels like the closing of a chapter. Olu Jacobs came from a generation that helped lay the foundations upon which Nigeria’s modern entertainment industry was built. Before Nollywood became a global phenomenon, men and women such as Jacobs had already spent decades honing their craft in theatre, television and film. He carried that history with him. He also carried dignity.
Even in his later years, when public appearances became fewer, the affection surrounding his name remained enormous. He had already achieved something that few performers ever do: he had become larger than individual roles. His name itself had become a reference point.
Olu Jacobs. The name conjured the voice, the stature, the authority, the theatre-trained precision and that unmistakable ability to make audiences listen.
Today, Nigeria mourns an actor. Africa mourns an artiste. The theatre mourns one of its sons. And Nollywood mourns one of the men whose careers helped give the industry the depth, legitimacy and continuity it enjoys today.
The boy who once watched Hubert Ogunde perform in Kano followed the call of the stage across continents. He walked through British theatres, television studios and international film sets before returning home to become one of the enduring faces of Nigerian cinema.
He played kings and commoners, heroes and villains, fathers and fathers of nations. But perhaps his greatest role was simply being Olu Jacobs. And now, after more than eight decades on earth and more than five decades of professional acting, the master has taken his final bow.
The lights may have gone down. The stage may be quiet but the performance remains.
Rest well, Pa Olu Jacobs. You lived. The curtain has fallen but your work that is with us will keep playing.
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