By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Zulu Adigwe, veteran actor and singer most recently featured in the 2019 blockbuster Living in Bondage: Breaking Free.
Adigwe was born in Enugu where he spent most of his childhood, but moved to Austria where he attended primary and secondary school.
Prior to acting, he studied French and German, worked as a teacher, and briefly studied Medicine before returning to Nigeria after his father’s death.
He enrolled with the University of Ibadan where he studied Theatre Arts, graduating with First Class Honours.
Adigwe’s interest in acting started when he was seven.
His earliest appearance on Nigerian television was in Basi and Company where he played the lead character Mr. B, replacing former actor Albert Egbe who left the series after a dispute with the show’s creator Ken Saro-Wiwa.
Adigwe’s introduction to the cast saw Mr. B re-invented as a guitar-strumming layabout composing and singing get-rich-quick ditties.
He also performed Basi and Company’s new theme song, and an album coinciding with the series – Mr. B Makes His Millions – was released under Polygram Nigeria in 1990.
In 1991, Adigwe was among the original cast of Checkmate, playing lecherous university lecturer Monday Edem in the pilot episode, but the role was recast after production moved from Enugu to Lagos.
His first movie was Blood of the Orphan, which earned him acclamation and recognition.
In 2004, he also starred in Living Abroad, directed by Elvis Chuks and also starring Ernest Asuzu, Emeka Enyiocha, and Anne Njemanze.
In 2019, Adigwe featured as Pascal Nworie in Living in Bondage: Breaking Free.