Nollywood actor Osita Iheme, popularly known as Pawpaw, has found himself on a global list of people who became internet legends through viral moments associated with their childhood, although there is one funny detail about his inclusion.
A post shared by foreign social media account REALIBITY placed Iheme alongside famous internet personalities and meme figures such as Success Kid, Bad Luck Brian and Side-Eyeing Chloe, who became widely recognised after photos or videos of them went viral online.
The inclusion of Pawpaw has caught attention because, unlike most of the people on the list, Iheme was not actually a child when he became famous.
The Nigerian actor was already 25 when he rose to prominence after starring alongside Chinedu Ikedieze in the 2002 Nollywood blockbuster Aki na Ukwa. Iheme played the mischievous character Pawpaw, while Ikedieze played Aki.
The pair became hugely popular for playing childlike characters despite being adults, with their small stature contributing to them being repeatedly cast in children’s roles. Their performances eventually became a major part of Nollywood’s pop culture legacy.
Years after their films became popular, clips, screenshots and facial expressions from Iheme’s movies found a second life on social media. His images became widely used as reaction memes, allowing Pawpaw to reach an entirely new audience outside Nigeria.
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By 2019, memes featuring Iheme and Ikedieze had become a major part of internet culture, with their images being used to express emotions ranging from confusion and frustration to excitement and disbelief. The popularity extended beyond Nigeria, with international brands and media also using the memes.
PUNCH previously described Iheme as one of the Nollywood actors who had become a major part of Nigerian meme culture, noting how internet users frequently use his expressions from old movies to add humour to online conversations.
The viral list also features people whose faces became globally recognisable from individual childhood moments.
Sam Griner, known online as Success Kid, became an internet meme after his mother posted a photograph of him as a toddler. Kyle Craven became known as Bad Luck Brian after his school yearbook photograph was turned into a meme, while Chloe Clem became known as Side-Eyeing Chloe after a 2013 video of her reaction to a surprise Disneyland trip went viral.
Pawpaw’s story is different but arguably just as remarkable. His internet fame did not come from a childhood photograph or a random viral video. Instead, it came years after he had already established himself as a Nollywood actor, when old scenes from his films were rediscovered and transformed into some of the internet’s favourite reaction memes.
So, while the internet may have placed Pawpaw in the company of famous viral kids, Nigerians know the real gist: Pawpaw was already a grown man, he was simply playing the role of a child.
More than two decades after Aki na Ukwa, Iheme remains one of Nollywood’s most recognisable faces, with his Pawpaw character continuing to live on across social media through memes and reaction images.
