Junior Pope

Odonwodo was born on May 7, 1981, in Bamenda, Cameroon, as the only child of Luke Odonwodo of Igbo descent and wife, a cameroonian. Afterwards, he relocated to Nigeria, for his primary and secondary education.

After studying accounting, as he initially wanted to become an accountant, he instead pursued acting in 2004, initially taking on lesser roles. He made his debut in the 2004 film Lost in the Jungle, portraying a minor role. Pope officially joined Nollywood in 2006 and began acting in 2007, with his first major film, Secret Adventure, directed by Tchidi Chikere. Since then, Pope has appeared in over 100 Nigerian films, including Throne of Tears (2008), Always Mine (2009), Mad Sex, Blood Affair (2021), No Way Through (2023), Gbege (2022)and Honey Money (2023).

Odonwodo was a Christian and on 26 July 2014, he married Jennifer Awele Okpuno. They had three children. Pope died along with three crew members while on his way to Asaba, Nigeria, to shoot a movie when their boat capsized in the River Niger in Anambra State. After the circulation of videos on the internet showing his video on the boat, and villagers in Anambra trying to revive him and taking him to the hospital, the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) initially declared him alive. However, he was later officially announced dead.

• List of Nigerian actors