Nollywood actor and director Ramsey Nouah has cleared up a long-running question among fans: why does he speak such fluent Yoruba? In an interview that aired on Saturday 3 October 2026 on Curiosity Made Me Ask, the 55-year-old star explained his mixed Lebanese and Yoruba heritage, and the clip has drawn a wave of reactions online.
What Ramsey Nouah said
Nouah said he was born and raised in Lagos and that his mother is from Ondo State, which is the source of his strong command of Yoruba. He described himself as a Yoruba boy, while noting that he is mixed-race because his father is Lebanese. In short, his fluency comes from growing up in a Yoruba home in Lagos with an Ondo mother.
How fans reacted
Many social media users said they had no idea about his background. Some had assumed he came from the East, and others had thought he was from Ghana. The reactions show how widely his work has travelled across Nigeria and West Africa.
Who is Ramsey Nouah?
Nouah began acting in the early 1990s and became one of Nollywood’s most recognisable faces. He won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2010 for his performance in The Figurine, and made his directorial debut in 2019 with Living in Bondage: Breaking Free. He has continued directing projects in the Nigerian film industry since.
Why this story matters for Yoruba culture
The story is a reminder that Yoruba identity is carried by language, family and upbringing in many different ways. It lands in the same week that fluency has become a talking point in Lagos politics. Read our report on Yoruba fluency in the Lagos governorship race, and learn the basics with our guide to Yoruba greetings and the origin of the Yoruba.
Sources: Legit.ng, Information Nigeria, GhanaWeb and Prompt News. Image credits: Jakob Owens on Unsplash. The photo is illustrative and not of Ramsey Nouah.
