Veteran Nollywood actor, Oludotun Jacobs (born 11 July 1942), popularly known as Olu Jacobs, is a Nigerian actor. He’s starred in a number of British television series and international films. In 2007 he won the African Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
He spent his early youth in Kano and attended Holy Trinity School where he had been a member of the debating and drama societies. He had been motivated to take an opportunity with acting when he attended one of Hubert Ogunde’s yearly concert party at Colonial Hotel in kano. Afterwards, he procured a visa and traveled to England to study acting.
In England, he trained at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. He then starred in various British television shows and series in the 1970s (e.g.. The Goodies, Till Death Us Do Part, Barlow at Large, The Venturers, Angels, 1990, The Tomorrow People, The Pros). In 1978, he also played the role of President Mageeba in Michael Codron’s demonstration of Tom Stoppard’s play Night and Day.
From the 1980s Jacobs starred in many foreign films a few of which comprise John Irvin’s war film The Dogs of War, Roman Polanski’s adventure-comedy Pirates (1986) and the family-adventure movie Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985). Jacobs has starred in over 120 Nollywood films and is considered one of the greatest Nigerian Nollywood celebrities.
Jacobs is married to Nollywood actress Joke Silva since 1989. They have children. Asked why his spouse still bears her maiden name, Jacobs replied: “
She’s her own individual. As soon as I met her, she had been an actress called Joke Silva so why should marrying me today deny her and her audience her title. She’s Miss Joke Silva who’s Mrs. Joke Jacobs. It is as simple as that. Folks today start to say what they like. They’ve even written that we are separated and all sort of stuffs. When she is working, she is Joke Silva but she is Mrs. Joke Jacobs in the home.
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Murderous Angels: A Political Tragedy and Comedy in Black and White (play) | Written by Conor Cruise O’Brien and performed at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 1971 | |
| 1972 | Richard’s Cork Leg | Royal Court Theatre, London | |
| 1974 | Black Mans Country | Father Zachary Azuka | Gate Theatre |
| 1977 | Julius Caesar | One of the augerers | Royal National Theater 1977 presentation directed by John Schlesinger |
| 1976 | Bar Beach Prelude and Transistor Radio | Two shorts play adapted from the works of Bode Sowande and Ken Saro Wiwa | |
| 1976 | A Kind of Marriage | Obi | Centre Play |
| 1977 | Old Movies | Chris Hunter (gendarmes) | National Theatre presentation |
| 1978 | Night and Day | President Mageeba |
