By Nnedinso Ogaziechi
To be honest, I admire a few Nollywood actors but rarely watch the productions (not really good at sitting to watch films but I love stage plays, epics, documentaries often featuring trained and versatile actors with good technical details.
However, there are many veterans that are metaphors for excellence, professionalism, commitment, passion and have that compelling persona on stage and in films. Uncle Olu Jacobs is one and he has succeeded in etching his face and essence on our collective consciousness. He has a disarming stage presence, brilliant acting skills that speak to his training and education and larger than stage presence.
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Uncle Olu Jacobs is metaphor for the truly trained actor who lives in our hearts beyond the stage. He is a father figure, a lover figure, a grandfather/ideal Uncle, a wonderful husband to Aunti Joke Silva, mentor, teacher and different things to different people . Their phenomenal love story has remained a reference point of what real love does to two people who understand the essence of love and loving.
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Uncle Olu Jacobs has lived admirably as an actor as he brought the stage to our lives. His impact on the global stage is very admirable and his presence in any piece of Art form enchants. He is a dedicated actor whose accomplishments are too numerous to mention here. He has worn numerous awards for excellence and commitment to the arts.
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His humility is unnerving and he has shown that love is not about age or status. His marriage to Aunti Joke Silva is a reference point to the industry and continually tells us that the hood never makes the monk. The idea that actors never have successful marriages is as fallacious as saying the Sun never rises in the morning. The story of how he met and proposed to his wife sounds like a fairy tale but then, it shows who they both are as humans; kind, affectionate, loving and graceful.
Asked why his wife of more than thirty years bears her maiden name, he had answered:
“She is her own individual. When I met her, she was an actress known as Joke Silva so why should marrying me now deny her and her audience her name. She is Miss Joke Silva who is Mrs. Joke Jacobs. It is as simple as that. People now begin to say what they like. They have even written that we are separated and all sort of stuff. When she is working, she is Joke Silva but she is Mrs. Joke Jacobs at home.”
How authentically beautiful! To me, a confident man never needs to trumpet masculinity! Uncle Olu Jacobs exudes effortless grace, always.
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In a crassly patriarchal society like Nigeria, his grace and respect for the humanity and individuality of the wife is a pointer to his personality and a key indication that individuals determine how they understand and express love and loving to dignify the existence of their significant other . Their relationship is a huge inspiration to many and given their profession, it is so admirable and negates the fallacy that actors cannot have a loving relationship that endures.
For all that phenomenal Uncle Olu Jacobs has done for our nation and humanity, it’s eighty beautifully ARTY garlands to him on his 80th birthday and wishing him more blessings.
© Nnedinso
July 7, 2022
