John Kani

John Kani

Born: November 30, 1943
in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
​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in the former snake pit of the zoo, hence the name) in Port Elizabeth in 1965 and helped to create many plays that went unpublished but were performed to a resounding reception.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.

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Movies for John Kani...

Murder Mystery 2
Title: Murder Mystery 2
Character: Colonel Ulenga
Released: March 28, 2023
Type: Movie
After starting their own detective agency, Nick and Audrey Spitz land a career-making case when their billionaire pal is kidnapped from his wedding.
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Seal Team
Title: Seal Team
Character: Brick (voice)
Released: October 28, 2021
Type: Movie
After his best friend is killed in a shark attack, Quinn, a lovable yet tenacious seal assembles a SEAL TEAM to fight back against a gang of sharks overtaking the neighborhood. But this merry band of international seals are not at all trained for such a mission. They seek the help of a much more skillful combatant, Claggart, but even his tricks and flips can’t whip these guys into shape. However, with a little bit of ingenuity, intelligence and a lot of heart, our SEAL TEAM may actually be able to bring peace back to their undersea community.
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Title: What If...?
Character: T'Chaka (voice)
Released: August 11, 2021
Type: TV
Taking inspiration from the comic books of the same name, each episode of this animated anthology series questions, revisits and twists classic Marvel Cinematic moments.
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Title: Marvel Studios Legends
Character: T'Chaka (archive footage)
Released: January 8, 2021
Type: TV
Revisit the epic heroes, villains and moments from across the MCU in preparation for the stories still to come. Each dynamic segment feeds directly into the upcoming series — setting the stage for future events. This series weaves together the many threads that constitute the unparalleled Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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The Lion King
Title: The Lion King
Character: Rafiki (voice)
Released: July 12, 2019
Type: Movie
Simba idolizes his father, King Mufasa, and takes to heart his own royal destiny. But not everyone in the kingdom celebrates the new cub's arrival. Scar, Mufasa's brother—and former heir to the throne—has plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is ravaged with betrayal, tragedy and drama, ultimately resulting in Simba's exile. With help from a curious pair of newfound friends, Simba will have to figure out how to grow up and take back what is rightfully his.
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The Space: Theatre of Survival
Title: The Space: Theatre of Survival
Released: June 7, 2019
Type: Movie
When everything about you falls one man decides that theatre is the key, and the way to begin to unify a people. A film about the life and times of The Space theatre (a.k.a. 'The Space', 'Die Ruimte' in Afrikaans, and 'Indawo' in Xhosa).
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Murder Mystery
Title: Murder Mystery
Character: Colonel Ulenga
Released: May 25, 2019
Type: Movie
On a long-awaited trip to Europe, a New York City cop and his hairdresser wife scramble to solve a baffling murder aboard a billionaire's yacht.
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Black Panther
Title: Black Panther
Character: T'Chaka
Released: February 13, 2018
Type: Movie
King T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne by factions within his own country as well as without. Using powers reserved to Wakandan kings, T'Challa assumes the Black Panther mantle to join with ex-girlfriend Nakia, the queen-mother, his princess-kid sister, members of the Dora Milaje (the Wakandan 'special forces') and an American secret agent, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war.
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Captain America: Civil War
Title: Captain America: Civil War
Character: King T'Chaka
Released: April 27, 2016
Type: Movie
Following the events of Age of Ultron, the collective governments of the world pass an act designed to regulate all superhuman activity. This polarizes opinion amongst the Avengers, causing two factions to side with Iron Man or Captain America, which causes an epic battle between former allies.
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1994: The Bloody Miracle
Title: 1994: The Bloody Miracle
Character: Narrator
Released: January 1, 2014
Type: Movie
As South Africa celebrates its 20th anniversary of the advent of democracy in 1994, it is difficult to believe the ‘Mandela miracle’ nearly didn’t happen. In an orgy of countrywide violence, some were intent on derailing the first free elections. Now, for the first time, those responsible for countless deaths and widespread mayhem explain how they nearly brought South Africa to its knees. 1994: The Bloody Miracle is a chilling look at what these hard men did to thwart democracy, and at how they have now made an uneasy peace with the ‘Rainbow Nation’ in their own different ways.
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Jail Caesar
Title: Jail Caesar
Released: June 28, 2012
Type: Movie
The early life of Roman ruler Julius Caesar as told in three working prisons in South Africa, the UK and Canada. A small group of professional actors is joined by a cast of real-life inmates to tell the story of one of history's foremost personalities.
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Falls the Shadow:  The Life and Times of Athol Fugard
Title: Falls the Shadow: The Life and Times of Athol Fugard
Character: Himself
Released: May 28, 2012
Type: Movie
Director Tony Palmer tells the incredible life story of Athol Fugard, the prolific playwright, novelist, and director who exposed the horrors of South Africa's apartheid system for the entire world to see. Interviews with Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Yvonne Bryceland and others help to illuminate Fugard's remarkable legacy.
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How to Steal 2 Million
Title: How to Steal 2 Million
Character: Julius Twala Snr.
Released: September 2, 2011
Type: Movie
It's a jungle out there. That's how we meet our lead character Jack. It's been five years since he's seen his partner and best friend Twala. Jack did five years for a robbery gone bad. Twala never got caught and Jack never talked. But Twala is as treacherous as Jack is honourable. He's married Jack's former fiancée. Jack wants to go legit but after being rejected for a loan he needs a new source of capital. Twala presents him with an opportunity a job with a R2 million take. The complication is that the mark is Twala's father. Jacks partner for the job is the tough and sexy Olive. Little does he know she will prove to be more devious then his old friend.
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Coriolanus
Title: Coriolanus
Character: General Cominius
Released: February 14, 2011
Type: Movie
Caius Martius, aka Coriolanus, is an arrogant and fearsome general who has built a career on protecting Rome from its enemies. Pushed by his ambitious mother to seek the position of consul, Coriolanus is at odds with the masses and unpopular with certain colleagues. When a riot results in his expulsion from Rome, Coriolanus seeks out his sworn enemy, Tullus Aufidius. Together, the pair vow to destroy the great city.
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White Lion
Title: White Lion
Character: Old Gisani
Released: February 19, 2010
Type: Movie
According to the legend of the Shangaan, white lions are the messengers of the gods, but it has been years since one has been seen in their remote African valley. When a white lion is miraculously born into that valley, a young Shangaan named Gisani, finds himself destined to protect this rare and magnificent creature at all costs. This young lion, whom will be known as Letsatsi, is cast from his pride and forced to embark upon a perilous journey of survival.
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Nothing But The Truth
Title: Nothing But The Truth
Character: Sipho
Released: November 1, 2009
Type: Movie
A South African librarian prepares for the return of the remains of his brother who died in exile.
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Title: Wallander
Character: Max Khulu
Released: November 30, 2008
Type: TV
This drama follows Inspector Kurt Wallander – a middle-aged everyman – as he struggles against a rising tide of violence in the apparently sleepy backwaters in and around Ystad in Skane, southern Sweden. Based on the international best-selling books by Henning Mankell.
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The Bird Can't Fly
Title: The Bird Can't Fly
Character: Stone
Released: January 3, 2008
Type: Movie
Melody returns to her old home to Fairlands the funeral of their daughter, June to attend. But Melody not recognize their city regains because it is almost entirely disappeared under tons of sand. She also learns that they have a 10-year-old grandson, River, has. Melody River will take into their new life, but this is fighting back. He wants to hatch the eggs of ostriches, which he has always fed with his mother. Rivers father, Scoop, a lazy musician and the man in the city post office, wants Melody leaves the city. Here are a lot of conflicts, to Melody learns the truth. But haunts as a sand storm the city, suddenly everything changes.
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The Tichborne Claimant
Title: The Tichborne Claimant
Character: Bogle
Released: August 1, 1998
Type: Movie
Based on a true story, set in the late 19th century: Lord Tichborne, the ninth richest nobleman in England, disappears after a South American shipwreck. Some years later his erudite Afro-English valet, Bogle, is sent to investigate rumors that Tichborne survived and settled in Australia. An alcoholic ruffian answer's Bogle's inquiries claiming to be the lost heir. Bogle suspects fraud, but conspires with the claimant to split the inheritance should the latter succesfully pass himself off to friends, family and the courts. As the claimant returns to England to continue his charade, enough people confirm his identity to make both the claimant and Bogle believe that he just might be the rightful heir after all.
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Kini & Adams
Title: Kini & Adams
Character: Ben
Released: May 10, 1997
Type: Movie
Kini and Adams are two friends leaving in a Zimbabwe village who dream of repairing an old broken car, and moving to the city and starting life over.
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The Ghost and the Darkness
Title: The Ghost and the Darkness
Character: Samuel
Released: October 11, 1996
Type: Movie
Sir Robert Beaumont is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project's foreman, seemingly killed by a lion. After several more attacks, Patterson calls in famed hunter Charles Remington, who has finally met his match in the bloodthirsty lions.
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Title: Silent Witness
Character: Dr. Phiri
Released: February 21, 1996
Type: TV
Silent Witness is a British crime thriller series focusing on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes.
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Soweto Green
Title: Soweto Green
Character: Dr. Curtis
Released: January 1, 1995
Type: Movie
An American couple moves to Johannesburg after Nelson Mandela is elected president.
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In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid
Title: In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid
Character: Self
Released: February 18, 1994
Type: Movie
A documentary overview and ideological critique of the South African film industry and cinema's historical relationship with apartheid.
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Title: African Skies
Released: October 11, 1992
Type: TV
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Sarafina!
Title: Sarafina!
Character: School Principal
Released: September 18, 1992
Type: Movie
The plot centers on students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools. The stage version presents a school uprising similar to the Soweto uprising on June 16, 1976. A narrator introduces several characters among them the school girl activist Sarafina. Things get out of control when a policeman shoots several pupils in a classroom. Nevertheless, the musical ends with a cheerful farewell show of pupils leaving school, which takes most of act two. In the movie version Sarafina feels shame at her mother's (played by Miriam Makeba in the film) acceptance of her role as domestic servant in a white household in apartheid South Africa, and inspires her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher, Mary Masombuka (played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film version) is imprisoned.
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The Native Who Caused All the Trouble
Title: The Native Who Caused All the Trouble
Released: May 11, 1990
Type: Movie
True story of a man who believes God owns the earth and land cannot be owned by anyone, therefore he's at liberty to build his church on ground occupied by others.
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Othello
Title: Othello
Character: Othello
Released: December 27, 1989
Type: Movie
After 400 years Shakespeare's great tragedy still has strong social and political relevance, and this celebrated production by leading actress and director Janet Suzman was momentous, as it was staged at South Africa's famous Market Theatre during the apartheid era. Tony Award-winning actor John Kani plays the title role.
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A Dry White Season
Title: A Dry White Season
Character: Julius
Released: September 20, 1989
Type: Movie
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
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Options
Title: Options
Character: Jonas
Released: May 27, 1989
Type: Movie
An MBA goes to Africa to make a deal, but comes out with a Princess.
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Saturday Night at the Palace
Title: Saturday Night at the Palace
Released: December 12, 1987
Type: Movie
South African drama set at a roadhouse in Apartheid.
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An African Dream
Title: An African Dream
Character: Khatana
Released: January 1, 1987
Type: Movie
An Englishwoman travels to South Africa in 1906.
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'Master Harold'... and the Boys
Title: 'Master Harold'... and the Boys
Character: Willie
Released: January 1, 1985
Type: Movie
When Harold, a young white man, learns that his alcoholic, handicapped father is returning home, his frustration turns into racist viciousness against the two black men who work for the family.
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The Grass Is Singing
Title: The Grass Is Singing
Character: Moses
Released: August 30, 1981
Type: Movie
In Southern Rhodesia in the 1940s, city-dweller Mary marries farmer Dick Turner and is plucked from the comforts of her cosmopolitan life and forced to live on his unsuccessful farm. Mary slowly goes insane and has a sexual affair with her black servant, Moses. When the affair is discovered, Mary asks Moses to leave the farm, but he returns and murders her.
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A Sizwe Bansi Workshop
Title: A Sizwe Bansi Workshop
Character: Himself
Released: January 1, 1981
Type: Movie
The play, Sizwe Bansi is Dead, follows the main character, Sizwe, as he writes to his wife after an unsuccessful search for a new job and better life for his family. This film places the viewer in the discussions between the writers of the play: Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona as they attempt to explain and re-write the play.
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Marigolds in August
Title: Marigolds in August
Character: Melton
Released: December 31, 1980
Type: Movie
Marigolds in August was written by Athol Fugard, who in the early 1980s was South Africa's most celebrated playwright. Fugard's intense political opinions were enough for the USSR to object to Marigolds being shown in the 1980 Berlin Festival, but the objections were dropped when it was learned that Fugard had already built up a strong fan following in Eastern Europe (for various reasons, the film was not released in the US until 1984). Winston Ntshona stars as a black South African gardener who travels by foot into the white community looking for a job. Upon arriving, Ntshona discovers that another black, John Kani, may have been hired for that job. Ntshoa ruins the chances for himself and Kani by accusing the other man of planning a theft. Both men are eventually hired by a fellow outcast, a white poacher (played by Anthol Fugard himself). The message would seem to be that if the have-nots of the world stick together, it matters little how badly they're treated by the "haves."
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Victims of Apartheid
Title: Victims of Apartheid
Character: George O'Brien
Released: October 24, 1978
Type: Movie
George, a black South African, finds it hard to settle down in London after his experiences in South Africa.
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The Wild Geese
Title: The Wild Geese
Character: Sgt. Jesse Blake
Released: June 28, 1978
Type: Movie
A British multinational company seeks to overthrow a vicious dictator in central Africa. It hires a band of (largely aged) mercenaries in London and sends them in to save the virtuous but imprisoned opposition leader who is also critically ill and due for execution. Just when the team has performed a perfect rescue, the multinational does a deal with the vicious dictator leaving the mercenary band to escape under their own steam and exact revenge.
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Title: Playhouse
Released: March 13, 1974
Type: TV
BBC2 Playhouse is a one hour UK anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas created by Sara Pia Anderson and produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Among its many notable guest stars were Helen Mirren, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Liam Neeson, Paul Scofield, Deborah Kerr, Ben Kingsley, Donald Pleasence, Brenda Blethyn, and Peggy Ashcroft. It premiered in the UK on March 13, 1974 and ran through May 20, 1983.
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The Man in the Mirror
Title: The Man in the Mirror
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
Set in Zululand South Africa three Zulu men must re-awaken sleeping demons when Mpiyakhe, now a successful Johannesburg businessman, returns home. Under adversity they are compelled to make life changing choices.