Sam Loco Efe (25 December 1945 – 7 August 2011), born Samuel Arase Efeimwonkiyeke in Enugu,[1] was a Nigerian actor, producer and director.
His father was of Benin ancestry and worked in Eastern Nigeria and his mother was a petty trader who sold bean cakes.
[10] He spent a considerable part of his childhood in the town of Abakaliki in present-day Ebonyi State, southeast Nigeria.
In elementary school, he was a member of various groups including a drama society that performed a rendition of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar at an Eastern regional arts festival in Abakaliki,[10] the play came last in the drama competition, but Efe was noted as the best actor which earned him a scholarship to complete elementary school.
[12] After secondary school, he was a member of a traveling theatre group and played soccer earning the moniker locomotive later shortened as loco.