John Kani

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John Kani in Pollsmoor prison, South Africa, during the filming of the film Jail Caesar (2007)

Bonisile John Kani (born August 30, 1943 in New Brighton , South Africa ) is a South African actor, theater director and playwright.

Life

John Kani was born in New Brighton, a township near Port Elizabeth . After attending high school, he became a member of The Serpent Players theater company in Port Elizabeth in 1965 . In the early 1970s he wrote the plays Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island - The Island is set on the prison island of Robben Island with Athol Fugard and his school friend Winston Ntshona . For his role in My Children My Africa! he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award .

Kani also appeared internationally with his pieces, from 1974 in New York , where he and Ntshona received a Tony Award for best leading actor for Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island in 1975 . After his return he was briefly detained. In 1976, he toured Australia and worked with Aboriginal theater groups in several cities . In 1977 he began working with the Market Theater in Johannesburg . In 1982, he played in Cape Town the play Miss Julie, in which he kissed a white woman. In South Africa during the apartheid era, this was a taboo - half of the audience left the hall. Kani received death threats, was ambushed and injured by eleven knife stabs. His younger brother was shot dead by the South African police in 1985 while he was reading a poem at a funeral speech for a young girl. In 1987 Kani played the title role in William Shakespeare's play Othello in his home country .

Nothing But the Truth was Kani's first solo play. It premiered at the National Festival of the Arts in Grahamstown and is about two brothers and their fate during apartheid . The piece was dedicated to Kani's dead brother. The play won three Fleur du Cap Awards in 2003 for best actor, best local book, and best new South African play. That same year, Kani and Ntshona received a "Special Mention" at the Obie Awards in the United States .

Kani is a trustee of the Market Theater Foundation, founder and director of the Market Theater Laboratory, founded in 1990, and chairman of the National Arts Council of South Africa. In 2013 he was a member of the Council of Witwatersrand University .

Kani's son Atandwa Kani is also an actor. He made his debut in the American television series Life Is Wild. They stood together in front of the camera for the films The Suit and Black Panther .

Awards

Plays

  • 1972: Sizwe Banzi is Dead (together with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona ), German as Sizwe Bansi is dead
  • 1972: Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (together with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona), German as statements after an arrest on the basis of the law against immorality
  • 1973: The Island (together with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona), German as Die Insel
  • 2002: Nothing But the Truth (author), published by Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg 2002, ISBN 978-1-86814-389-4 .

Filmography

  • 1978: The Wild Geese ( The Wild Geese ), Great Britain
  • 1980: Marigolds in August ( Marigolds in August ), South Africa
  • 1981: Killing Heat
  • 1981: The Grass Is Singing
  • 1985: "Master Harold" ... and the Boys (TV movie)
  • 1987: Saturday Night at the Palace
  • 1987: An African Dream
  • 1988: Options
  • 1989: A Dry White Season ( A Dry White Season ), United States
  • 1989: Othello (TV movie)
  • 1989: The Native Who Caused All the Trouble
  • 1990: An African Dream
  • 1992: Sarafina! , South Africa
  • 1993: In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid (documentary)
  • 1995: Soweto Green
  • 1996: The Ghost and the Darkness ( The Ghost and the Darkness ), United States
  • 1997: Cape of Vengeance (TV film), Germany
  • 1997: Kini and Adams , Burkina Faso
  • 1998: The Tichborne Claimant
  • 2001: Final Solution , USA / South Africa
  • 2005–2008: Hillside (TV series)
  • 2007: The Bird Can't Fly , South Africa / Ireland / Netherlands
  • 2008: Silent Witness (Finding Rachel)
  • 2009: Endgame , South Africa
  • 2010: White Lion
  • 2012: Jail Caesar, USA / Great Britain / South Africa
  • 2011: Coriolanus , Great Britain
  • 2016: The First Avenger: Civil War (Captain America: Civil War)
  • 2016: The Suit (short film)
  • 2018: Black Panther
  • 2019: Murder Mystery
  • 2019: The Lion King ( The Lion King , voice of Rafiki)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Portrait on the website of the South African President ( Memento from February 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Kani at Who's Who ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed June 22, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / whoswho.co.za
  3. ↑ a b portrait at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on June 22, 2014
  4. ↑ Members of the Council 2013 ( Memento from June 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  5. ^ The Suit at imdb.com, accessed February 8, 2017
  6. ↑ The main theater is renamed to honor Dr. John Kani. ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Market Theater website, accessed January 17, 2015  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / markettheatre.co.za
personal data
SURNAME Kani, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kani, Bonisile John (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African actor, playwright and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH New Brighton (Eastern Cape) , South Africa