Jimi Solanke | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 1942 |
| Nationality | Nigerian |
| Citizenship | Nigerian |
| Occupation(s) | Film actor Playwright Poet |
| Relatives | Solanke Sayo (daughter)[1] |
Jimi Solanke (b. July 1942) is a foremost Nigerian film actor, dramatist, folk singer, poet and prolific playwright[2][3][4].
He attended Olowogbowo Methodist School in Lagos State for his primary education and Odogbolu Grammar School where he obtained the West African Senior School Certificate[5]. He later proceeded to the University of Ibadan where he obtained a diploma certificate in drama[6].
After he completed the diploma degree, he left for the United States of America, where he created a group called The Africa Review that focused on African culture and members of the group usually put on the African attire, specifically the Yoruba attire[7]. They often performed in the black African schools on different occasions[8]. This initiatives gave him an employment in California and Los Angeles where his story telling career begin and was described as a master "Story teller"[9]. In 1986, he returned to Nigeria with about three members of the African Review group to work with the Nigerian Television Authority[10]. His credible performance in Drama made him a choice of the lead role he played in Kongi's Harvest by Nigerian writer, professor Wole Soyinka, a Nobel laureate[11].