Joke Silva: Movies & Filmography

Joke Silva is a veteran Nigerian actress, director, and businesswoman whose career spans English- and Yoruba-language cinema, television, theatre, media production, and acting education. Born on 29 September 1961 in Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria, she is the eldest child in a family of four from the Saro/Amaro community. Her mother, Adebimbola Silva, was a pioneering medical doctor, while her father, Chief Emmanuel Afolabi Silva, was a lawyer. Her ancestry includes the prominent colonial Nigerians Charles Phillips and Samuel Herbert Pearse. Silva attended Holy Child College in Lagos and later studied English at the University of Lagos, where her cultural group included playwright Bode Osanyin and singer Stella Monye. Despite her parents’ initial opposition to her theatrical ambitions, she pursued acting and relocated to England to study drama at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Beginning her screen career in the early 1990s, Silva appeared in productions including Mind Bending, Owulorojo, and Violated. Her career expanded across film and television, and in 1998 she took a major role as Nene opposite Colin Firth and Nia Long in the British-Canadian drama The Secret Laughter of Women. In 2002, she starred opposite Bimbo Akintola in Keeping Faith and co-produced and starred in The Kingmaker with her husband, Olu Jacobs. Silva’s later credits included 30 Days, The Amazing Grace, To Love and to Hold, Phone Swap, The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, Chief Daddy, Namaste Wahala, Elesin Oba, The King’s Horseman, and Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. She also performed on stage in the 2013 production of Mad King of Ijudiya, praised for its combination of folklore, traditional dance, and music.

Silva has received extensive recognition for her contributions to African cinema. In 2006, she won Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Africa Movie Academy Awards for her performance in Women’s Cot. She later earned Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her methodical portrayal of a grandmother in White Waters, while her work in 30 Days and The Amazing Grace also received substantial awards attention. Her additional honours include an EMOTAN Award from African Independent Television and a SOLIDRA Award for Visual Art. Silva married veteran actor Olu Jacobs in 1989, and the couple remained together until his death in 2026; they had two children. Together they established the Lufodo Group, whose assets include Lufodo Productions, Lufodo Consult, Lufodo Distribution, and the Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts, where Silva serves as Director of Studies. She is also the pioneer managing director of Malete Film Village in association with Kwara State University. In 2012, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime appointed her a goodwill ambassador for its I Am Priceless campaign against human trafficking in Nigeria. On 29 September 2014, she received the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, one of Nigeria’s national honours, and became an AIICO Pension Managers brand ambassador in 2016. Silva has also led Actors Guild of Nigeria efforts to provide health support for ailing performers, supported women’s education and empowerment, and joined the Tinubu/Shettima Women Presidential Campaign Team in 2022.