Justus Esiri was a Nigerian actor widely regarded as one of the foundational pillars of Nollywood, whose career bridged German stage theatre, classic Nigerian television, and the early home-video film industry across nearly five decades.

Born on November 20, 1942, in Oria-Abraka, Delta State, Esiri attended Urhobo College in Effurun, Warri, before travelling to Germany in the mid-1960s to study engineering at Maximilian University in Munich. It was there that he discovered a passion for theatre, becoming the only Nigerian male performing on the German stage between 1968 and 1969, while also working as a German-language translator for the Voice of Nigeria.

A government delegation invited Esiri to return home and perform in a Nigerian production, and he never went back to Europe. He rose to national prominence through his role as the Headmaster in the long-running Nigerian Television Authority series The Village Headmaster, and further cemented his standing with a performance as Obierika in the television adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

As Nollywood’s home-video industry took shape, Esiri became one of its defining elder statesmen, appearing in numerous films over the following decades and serving as a former president of the Conference of Motion Picture Practitioners. In 2007, he was honoured with the national title of Officer of the Order of the Niger for his contributions to Nigerian arts and culture.

Esiri died on February 19, 2013, in Lagos, at the age of 70, and was posthumously awarded Best Actor at the 9th Africa Movie Academy Awards for his role in Assassins Practice, alongside the inaugural Goodluck Jonathan Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 Nollywood Movies Awards. He is survived by his son, celebrated Nigerian musician Dr. Sid, and remains remembered as one of the architects of Nigerian screen storytelling.