From Labake Olododo to The Return of Arinzo and now The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, Iyabo Ojo is showing what longevity looks like when an actress refuses to stand still.
There are careers built around moments, and there are careers built around the ability to keep creating new ones.
For Iyabo Ojo, longevity has never meant simply remaining visible. Her recent run has shown an actress and filmmaker continually finding new ways to occupy the screen — sometimes in front of the camera, sometimes behind it, and increasingly on both sides at once.
In 2025, she stepped into the title role of Labake Olododo, playing a formidable Yoruba heroine in the Biodun Stephen-directed epic. But Iyabo’s involvement extended beyond performance: she was also an executive producer on the project.
Then came Behind the Scenes, where Iyabo appeared as Alero — another reminder that even while building her own productions, she remains willing to enter someone else’s world and simply do the work as an actress.
Then She Took the Director’s Chair
2026 brought another evolution.
With The Return of Arinzo, Iyabo didn’t only star in or produce a film. She directed it, marking her feature directorial debut.
That progression matters.
Actress. Producer. Executive Producer. Director.
Not because collecting titles automatically makes someone important, but because Iyabo has increasingly demonstrated a willingness to take responsibility for what reaches the screen rather than waiting only for roles to arrive.
And Now, Iya Segi
Her next major appearance puts her inside one of 2026’s notable Nigerian ensemble productions: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, an adaptation of Lola Shoneyin’s acclaimed novel.
Iyabo plays Iya Segi, Baba Segi’s first wife — a formidable matriarch and strategist whose position within the household places her at the centre of its complicated dynamics.
She joins an expansive cast that includes Odunlade Adekola, Omowunmi Dada, Mercy Aigbe, Bimbo Ademoye, Bisola Aiyeola, Kunle Remi, Shaffy Bello, Lateef Adedimeji, Nancy Isime, Uzor Arukwe, Daniel Etim Effiong and Bimbo Manuel.
The project also gives Iyabo another opportunity to remind audiences of something that can occasionally get lost amid conversations about her producing, entrepreneurship and public profile:
Iyabo Ojo can act.
After carrying her own productions and stepping behind the camera, she can still enter a major ensemble, inhabit a character and allow the performance to do the talking.
Still Acting. Still Producing. Still Building.
That may be the most interesting thing about Iyabo Ojo’s current chapter.
She isn’t behaving like someone simply protecting what she has already achieved. She is still adding to it.
She can lead a film. She can produce one. She can direct one. She can step into an ensemble and become Iya Segi. And before one chapter completely closes, another is already taking shape.
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That is what makes this run worth recognising.
Iyabo Ojo isn’t just staying relevant — she is continuing to expand what her career can contain.
