Veteran Yoruba actor Lere Paimo has reacted to the debate on who started Nollywood, insisting that Yoruba theatre predates English-language productions often linked to Igbo actors like Pete Edochie.
Speaking in a YouTube interview with Kunle Afod, the 86-year-old said he began acting in 1958, four years before Edochie said his own career started in 1962 at age 15.
The conversation started after Edochie challenged colleagues to prove if anyone began acting before him, citing his 1962 role in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
Paimo disagreed, tracing Nollywood’s roots to the Yoruba travelling theatre tradition.
“I started acting in 1958. I met Hubert Ogunde, who was senior to me and others, and there were big movies produced back then,” he said.
He argued that indigenous Yoruba productions came first, long before English films became popular. Nation
