Veteran Nollywood actor Emmanuel France is dead

Nollywood veteran actor Emmanuel France, famous for his roles in Domitilla (1996) and The Curfew (2021), has died at 84.

His colleague, filmmaker Olufemi Ogedengbe, broke the news on his Instagram page on Monday.

“Rest in peace to one of Nollywood legends uncle Emmanuel France, One of the actors I took to Tanzania in 2006, Shot three movies with him: Cross MY Sin, She Is My Sister & THE Director,” his post read.

The cause of his death remains unknown.

Born in Kano State, he joined the Nigerian movie industry in the ’80s and was renowned for playing Witch Doctor roles in Nollywood films.

The late actor was also famous for the catchphrase ‘Tufancha,’ a word which he repeatedly used in the classic Nollywood film Suicide Mission.

His other movie credits include Oganigwe, Narrow Escape, Witches, Silent Night, Exile and Silent Night.

Professional career in Ghana and Nigeria

His nationality has always been debated; however, in a 2011 interview published on Modern Ghana, the deceased said he considered himself a product of a united nation.

“I am not even a Ghanaian but a “Gold Coastian” because my grandparents came from the Gold Coast. They didn’t come from Ghana. I have a Nigerian Passport because I was born in Nigeria. I don’t have a Ghanaian Passport because I don’t reside there. I didn’t go to school in Ghana. Ghanaians don’t know me as theirs. Nigerians know me as a Ghanaian. Of course, that is what it is. I say it out loud because my parents come from there.”

His professional career began in Ghana when he studied at the School of Journalism in Accra.

He also started writing scripts while in Ghana and wrote his first script, a stage play, in 1967 for the Catholic Church titled the “Mission of John the Baptist.”

He joined the Ghana Film Corporation in 1969 and shot his first film, “The Market Day”, the same year.

While in Ghana, he also shot a documentary, “No Time to Die,” about road safety in Ghana.

Similarly, he also shot a film sponsored by the Ghana Fishing Industry that took him to Angola in 1974. Upon his return, the Ghana Broadcasting Organisation gave him a job, which saw him write the script for one of the best soup operas in Ghana at the time, Osopurazi.

However, the recession in Ghana had him returning to Nigeria.

Upon his return to Nigeria, he joined the Nigeria Television Authority as a contract staff member and scriptwriter.

He once noted that he stopped recording the number of movies he starred in after featuring in 373 productions including television dramas, soap operas, etc.

Career challenges

One of the career challenges he admitted to in interviews was fee discrepancies. For instance, he once noted that he earned higher in Ghana partly because they thought he was non-Ghanian.

He said, “They came to Nigeria and invited me to come and play a role, and they gave me N2.5 million. They paid me in Euros, and I got N2.5 million in conversion. If you talk of the least, you will laugh at it. The least I have collected is N3 000. And that was in 1980, and I played the role of a professor.”

Drawing comparisons with his fees in Nigeria, the actor lamented being paid far less than his junior colleague years later for a movie role.

“There is injustice; there is non-recognition of excellence. The language of the business is just profit.

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“The film industry here does not have a structure, and I thought the government would intervene to create something that would drive the industry to greater heights.

“There are cliques, and once you do not belong to the clique, you are not recognised. Some of us can’t afford to be in cliques.”

His last movie role was in Men of the Century (Hook or Crook), released in July 2024.