IT has been a rain of tributes for the world-class stage and screen actress and producer Ajoke Silva-Jacobs since she clocked 60 on Wednesday September 29. Messages have continued to pour in from all over the world for the queen of performing art whose passion and commitment to the vocation is glaringly boundless.
Fans, colleagues both young and old, friends, contemporaries and family members of the stage and screen diva have continued to eulogise the skillful performer who has exhibited a rare combination of hard work and an inalienable commitment to her first love — acting.
Indeed if there is any screen and stage actress who is roundly admired for her unique interpretation of roles and who is rightly respected for bumping easily into such roles, then it’s the immensely gifted Ajoke Jacobs. A red hot stage and screen star and wife of the equally intense actor Olu Jacobs, Ajoke has exhibited a palpable commitment to excellence and to playing a raised game since she joined the acting vocation forty years ago.
BORN under the star sign Libra, Joke Silva, the professional name she and her better half Olu Jacobs have agreed to adopt, has continued to win the hearts of viewers within and outside Nigeria with grace and charm, and she has proved overtime that she is a world class actress who puts a stamp of quality on all her acting performances.
An intense and busy actress, Joke is clearly one of Nigeria’s hottest celebrity. A core professional, principled and one of the very few actors at ease on stage, film television and on home video, Joke is regarded as a magnetic star who though has not allowed success and fame get into her head and who has become more of a reference point or something of a parameter for assessing other actresses. Indeed to say that Joke, an ‘acting auntie’ to a lot of upcoming actresses has become a household name in the world of the cinema and theatre in Nigeria would be stating the obvious.
A timeless actor, acting was all Joke wanted as a career. As a kid, nothing gave Joke so much kick than acting. Acting was all she wanted to do. Hard as her parents tried to convince her to open her mind to other career choices, Joke just couldn’t get her mind of acting not after she has been exposed to the acting prowess of veterans like the late Elsie Olusola aka ‘Sisi Clara’ and that of the inimitable Ibidun Allison aka ‘Amebo’ of the ‘Village Headmaster’ fame. Their showing on screen provided the pull and got her really resolved to pursue a career in acting. And because she exhibited a stubborn determination, her parents, particularly her mum, had no option than allow her express her inner passion.
Incidentally it was her mum who pulled a call and secured a place for the old girl of Saint Saviours School, Lagos, Holy Child College, Lagos and an alumnus of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts, South Kessington London, the University of Lagos and Fate Foundation Ijora, Lagos, at the defunct Center for Cultural Studies of the University of Lagos. While there, Joke took part in a number of productions.
It was at this point that she decided that the best thing to do was to get herself grounded in the art and science of acting. So she yearned for more training. And when the opportunity came, Joke chose the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts, London. While there too, she took part in a number of stage productions. For instance, Joke was a major part of the College staging of Arnold Western’s ‘Shylock’. She also played a prominent role in the College staging of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’.
A popular star and an actress of international repute who is greatly sought after, Joke returned to Nigeria after her training in London to further her acting career. Sadly when she returned nothing much was happening in terms of theatrical productions. So she had to take up teaching in schools to get by. It was about this time too that she met and acceded to the marriage proposal advanced by a man she described as her ‘friend, mentor and confidant’ Olu Jacobs. Their marriage of over two decades now is blessed with children and grand-children.
Co-founder of Lufudo Productions and the Lufodo Academy for the Performing Arts which she runs with her husband Olu Jacobs, Joke first cut on the raised platform here was on television. She was a major feature of most of the early television soap and series. Many still recall her remarkable performance in such television soaps and series like ‘Mind Bending’, ‘Mirror in the Sun’ and ‘Second Chance’. In between Joke spared time to be part of most of the cities upscale stage performances. Many still recall her dazzling run in Fred Agbeyegbe’s ‘King Must Dance Naked, in ‘Holy Child’ a stage play which her husband produces almost annually under the aegis of Lufudo productions and in Ahmed Yerima’s ‘The Sisters’ where she lived delightfully, the lead role of Taiwo.
A founding member, secretary and assistant coordinator of CULAN, a non governmental organization dedicated to the struggle for gender equity using the arts, Joke, a native of Lagos breezed effortlessly from television to home video. She became an instant hit there and made most producers to conclude that a movie will ‘sell fast’ once Joke Silva was in it. And as scripts got to her, she made her choice and only accepted those that could challenge her professionally. This is why she has only done a couple of movies, all critically acclaimed.
In Joke’s movie and film pouch are such critically acclaimed flicks like ‘Owuro Lojo’ her debut movie in Yoruba, ‘King Maker’, ‘Twins of the Rain Forest’ a short film produced by the pay channel MNET, ‘Brave Heart’ a film, ‘Violated’, ‘Silent Night’, ‘Women’s Cot’ which earned her a deserved best actress crest at an earlier edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), ’30 Days’ and ‘Digging for Gold’, ‘’Jonah’, ‘The Drummer Boy’, and ‘Footprints’. Indeed to say that Joke has had a very remarkable career as an actress and producer would just be stating the obvious.
A recipient of several industry and society awards including EMOTAN an award by African Independent Television (AIT), Joke is an actress with a passion for humanitarian activities. She belongs to a number of associations and boards that are concerned about gender based issues and the well-being of the girl child and African children in general. She is a member of the think-thank for the Blair Commission for Africa, a trustee of Advocacy for Women and Children and a board member cum grief counselor for AART of Life Foundation.
Joke has had many memorable moments as an actor. But the one she readily recapped was when she played the role of King Omojua in Fred Agbeyegbe’s ‘The King Must Dance Naked’, which the National Troupe produced in 1993. ‘It was a great experience for me working in a star studded production. The audience had to be turned back at some point because the tickets were sold out. There was no room to stand in the hall at the National Theatre where the play was staged’. If she has had any sad moment at all, then it would obviously be the day she lost her beloved daughter to the cold hands of death. The child couldn’t pull through an operation that was carried out on her. ‘It was a sad moment for all of us. It was’ she said.
When Joke is not busy with acting, teaching and or engaged in humanitarian work, she spends time with her immediate family. She also loves to read, watch movies, swim and dance. Her favourite colours are pastels while her favourite international actors are Judy Dench, Kathrine Hepburn, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett and a host of others.
Asked if she has any regrets and whether it has been rewarding acting, the warm hearted diva simply posted a ‘no’ as answer in reply to whether she has any regrets. She maintained that she has no regret at all acting and would encourage any of her children and or ward with the right talent to act. As for rewards, Joke admits that acting has ‘greatly rewarded her’. She adds: ‘what more can I possibly ask for. It has made me popular and easily recognizable. It has opened doors for me and I am grateful to God for his grace and mercies’.
On a scale, Joke says she would prefer to do more stage productions than home video productions. ‘’Both are challenging. Its just that the stage requires more projection and there are no opportunities for retakes. But I prefer the stage even though you don’t earn as much on stage as you would on screen. But stage is a prestigious thing. You improve your skills better on stage than on screen because you have the equipment that would boost your performance like the microphones that will make you sound louder. But I prefer the stage’.
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