John Kani
Born: 1943-11-30 in New Brighton, Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Known For: Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Bonsile John Kani (born 1943) is a South African actor, director and playwright. He was born in New Brighton, South Africa. Kani joined The Serpent Players (a group of actors whose first performance was in the former snake pit of the zoo, hence the name) in Port Elizabeth in 1965 and helped to create many plays that went unpublished but were performed to a resounding reception. These were followed by the more famous Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island, co-written with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona, in the early 1970s. He also received an Olivier nomination for his role in My Children My Africa! Kani's work has been widely performed around the world, including New York, where he and Winston Ntshona won a Tony Award in 1975 for Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island. These two plays were presented in repertory at the Edison Theatre for a total of 52 performances. Nothing but the Truth (2002) was his debut as sole playwright and was first performed in the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. This play takes place in post-apartheid South Africa and does not concern the conflicts between whites and blacks, but the rift between blacks who stayed in South Africa to fight apartheid, and those who left only to return when the hated regime folded. It won the 2003 Fleur du Cap Awards for best actor and best new South African play. In the same year he was also awarded a special Obie award for his extraordinary contribution to theatre in the USA. Kani is executive trustee of the Market Theatre Foundation, founder and director of the Market Theatre Laboratory and chairman of the National Arts Council of SA. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Kani, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
2024
- Mufasa: The Lion King as Rafiki (voice)
2023
- Murder Mystery 2 as Colonel Ulenga
- Beyond the Light Barrier as Narrator/Self
2021
- What If...? as T'Chaka (voice)
- Marvel Studios Legends as T'Chaka (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Seal Team as Brick (voice)
2019
- The Lion King as Rafiki (voice)
- Murder Mystery as Colonel Ulenga
- The Space: Theatre of Survival
2018
- Black Panther as T'Chaka
2016
- Captain America: Civil War as King T'Chaka
2014
- 1994: The Bloody Miracle as Narrator
2012
- Jail Caesar as Marius
- Falls the Shadow: The Life and Times of Athol Fugard as Self
2011
- Coriolanus as General Cominius
- How to Steal 2 Million as Julius Twala Snr.
2010
- White Lion as Old Gisani
2009
- Endgame as Oliver Tambo
- Nothing But The Truth as Sipho
2008
- Wallander as Max Khulu
- The Bird Can't Fly as Stone
2001
- Final Solution as Rev. Peter Lekota
1999
- The Tichborne Claimant as Bogle
1997
- Kini & Adams as Ben
1996
- Silent Witness as Dr. Phiri
- The Ghost and the Darkness as Samuel
1995
- Soweto Green as Dr. Curtis
1994
1992
- Sarafina! as School Principal
- African Skies
1989
- Options as Jonas
- A Dry White Season as Julius
- Othello as Othello
1987
- An African Dream as Khatana
- Saturday Night at the Palace
1986
- Miss Julie as John
1985
- 'Master Harold'... and the Boys as Willie
1981
- The Grass Is Singing as Moses
- A Sizwe Bansi Workshop as Himself
1980
- Marigolds in August as Melton
1978
- The Wild Geese as Sgt. Jesse Blake
- Victims of Apartheid as George O'Brien
1974
- Playhouse as Styles / Buntu
- Sizwe Bansi is Dead as Styles/Buntu
1970
- Play for Today as George O'Brien