Ebele Okaro was born on 19 January 1964 in London and raised in Enugu State, southeastern part of Nigeria.[3] She began acting while attending the Santa Maria Primary School[1][2] and continued while at Nsukka's Queen of the Holy Rosary Secondary School where she wrote her Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE). Initially she began her studies in education at the University of Calabar (Unical), Cross River State, in the southern region of Nigeria, but later discovered that her passion was for the dramatic arts, leading her to earn a Bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts.[2][3] Okaro's mother is a television producer and her father, an engineer[4] who also has great interest in arts and literature.
Career
After graduating from university, Okaro served her National Youth Service at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), where she made some television appearances.[2][4] However, after the Youth Service, she worked with an embassy in Lagos and later in a bank before returning to acting in the Nigerian movie industry (known as Nollywood).[3]
She has become known as the "Mama of Nollywood"[1][4] and has earned the respect of both fans and colleagues.[3] Ebele always knew she wanted to become an actress. Although she left acting for a short time when there was a huge decline in the Nigeria Movie Industry.[8] It led her to earn a living somewhere else. She worked at an embassy in Lagos and also took up a Banking job at the time but when back to acting when things got better.[9]
