Veteran actor Lere Paimo has challenged Pete Edochie’s account of when he began acting, saying his own career started in 1958, four years before Edochie’s stated 1962 timeline.
Paimo made the claim during an interview posted on YouTube on Monday, September 14, 2026, following Edochie’s recent statement that he began acting at the age of 15 in 1962.
“I started acting in 1958, and it was in 1962 that Pete Edochie started acting,” Paimo said during the interview.
The 86-year-old explained that his early acting experience was connected to Nigeria’s indigenous travelling-theatre tradition, which was already active before the emergence of the modern Nollywood era.
Paimo also said his career began within a period when Yoruba theatre was developing through stage productions and cultural performances across the country.
The latest exchange followed Edochie’s account of his own early acting experience, which he traced to a 1962 performance of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice when he was 15.
Edochie’s 1962 account has been cited as the basis for his position on how far back his acting career dates, while Paimo’s response places his own entry into acting four years earlier.
Paimo further argued that the history of Nigerian theatre extends beyond the period associated with English-language productions, pointing to the longstanding Yoruba travelling-theatre tradition.
He said, “Since we didn’t hear or read that in any history books or documentation, I believe the Yoruba industry started first.”
The disagreement has therefore centred on the chronology of their entry into acting rather than on their subsequent contributions to Nigerian theatre and film.
Paimo’s published biographical records generally identify 1958 as the beginning of his acting career, although some accounts place his formal association with the Oyin Adejobi theatre group around 1960, creating a distinction between his stated start in acting and his later professional theatre involvement.
Paimo has remained associated with the development of Yoruba theatre and film, with his career spanning stage performance, acting, filmmaking, production and directing.
He was also honoured with the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) in 2005 for his contributions to the Nigerian film industry.
Edochie, meanwhile, has continued to identify 1962 as the starting point of his acting journey, with his early stage experience predating his later rise to national prominence through television and film.
For now, Paimo’s 1958 account remains his stated personal timeline, while Edochie’s 1962 account represents the date he has publicly given for the beginning of his own acting career.
The exchange has renewed attention on the different paths through which Nigeria’s early actors entered the profession, particularly the relationship between indigenous travelling theatre, stage performance, television and film.
