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Veteran Nollywood actor Yemi Solade has stated that Pa Orlando Martins is the first Nigerian actor known in history. Speaking during an interview with The Honest Bunch podcast, Solade revealed that Martins, who is now deceased, left Nigeria in 1914 for the US, where he took up acting.

He said the actor returned to Nigeria in 1960 after appearing in high-profile movies abroad.

Solade said, “The first Nigerian actor we ever knew in history…hmm… my father was not even born… Pa Orlando Martins left this country in 1914 and went to the US. He acted with one-time President of America, Ronald Reagan; he acted with John Wayne, in the days of black and white television that we knew growing up. He came back to celebrate Nigeria’s independence in 1960. From then on, he decided to stay put. He died here on Lagos Island. That history does not exist in the East.

He further stated that other actors sprung up, “like Joe Olayode, Larry Williams; they have all passed on, and we had Olu Jacobs, who is still breathing.

“When Pa Orlando Martins came on the scene, there was no other Nigerian name we knew anywhere.

“Talking about theatre, which was just basically stage production, from the Ogunde era, it was called Opera Cantata in those days, because it evolved from the Greek theatre, which was what they studied.”

Recently, Solade stated that Nollywood was started by Yoruba people, just as he dismissed claims that Igbo people produced the first home video that gave birth to the industry.

Solade is the latest Yoruba actor to weigh in on the debate about the origin of Nollywood, an industry that has become a global phenomenon.

Speaking during an appearance on Tope Olowoniyan TV, Solade revealed how Yoruba people started the industry.

“The first man that shot home video in this country, his name is Ade Ajiboye (Big Abass); he’s alive. We have been doing it… there was celluloid, we did that. We had the Ogundes, we did that. We had the Baba Salas, Ade Afolayan, who is Kunle Afolayan’s father, Ola Balogun, and so many other big names, most of whom are gone now.”

He stated that when home video production began, it was an experiment aimed at recording the stage plays in which he and his colleagues were involved.

“Even when home video was starting, it was just an experiment that was carried out by the likes of Muhideen Alade Aromire. May his soul continue to rest in peace. We were all doing this drama, and they brought this camcorder and recorded what we were doing and placed them in bookstores. You know how these televangelists sell their cassettes at bookstores. You, as a bookshop owner, when people walk into your shop to buy books, you introduce the cassettes to them. It all started like that.

“You see, my people in the Yoruba setting didn’t document anything; that did them in. That’s why the other side of the divide came to say ‘we started…’. Hey shut up, when people like us are here, we tell you you didn’t start anything,” he said.

Solade also dismissed the claim that an Igbo movie, Living in Bondage, was the first home video, which eventually gave birth to Nollywood.

He said, “Living in Bondage was not the first movie.” For those who might say the industry started from Living in Bondage, he said, “It was not from there. But because they romanced the media while my people were just doing the do. Most of them weren’t schooled. They were just doing their art for art’s sake. They were enjoying themselves.

“Bayo Salami is alive; that’s Femi Adebayo’s father. He will tell you deeper stories than I’m telling you. He’s older than me. Jide Kosoko is alive, and we all worked together. It is only in the Yoruba setting that you will find practitioners who will tell you they’ve been around 60 years. Iya Rainbow is like 84, she’s still going on set. I’m senior to Pete Edochie. I started acting before him, but he’s older than me. I was 17 in 1977 when I represented Nigeria at Festac 77 as the youngest actor. I’ve done 48 years and I’m still standing.”.

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