Olu Jacobs

Olu Jacobs, who was a Nigerian actor and film executive, trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts after spending his early childhood in Kano. His stage work included playing the role of The Boy in A Taste of Honey, staged at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre in 1972, and in 1978 he appeared as President Mageeba in Tom Stoppard's Night and Day. During the 1970s he took roles in British television. In the 1980s he appeared in international films including The Dogs of War, Roman Polanski's Pirates (1986), Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985). After returning to Nigeria in 1990, he took a lead part in the NTA detective show The Third Eye and appeared in more than 120 Nollywood films, with Vanguard calling him one of the godfathers of Nollywood. Africa Movie Academy Awards named him best actor in a leading role in 2007, and he received honors in 2011, 2013, and 2016. He died in 2026.