John Kani

Kani was born on 30 August 1942 in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth In the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.{{cite web|url=http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=7818 |title=Bonisile John Kani (1943–) |publisher=The Presidency |date=30 August 1943 |access-date=11 May 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604164218/http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=7818 |archive-date=4 June 2016 }} In 1975, after appearing in Athol Fugard's anti-apartheid play Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, which he also co-wrote, in the United States, Kani returned to South Africa. There, he received a phone call saying that his father wanted to see him. On his way there, he was surrounded by police who beat him and left him for dead. His left eye was lost as a result of the incident, and he now wears a prosthesis which is technically a glass eye.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/09/26/apartheid-through-an-angry-lens/2137ff43-6f28-4efb-97df-3d5f19a7c9e0/ |title=Apartheid Through An Angry Lens |last=Britt |first=Donna |date=26 September 1989 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=5 April 2018 |quote=Kani lost his eye when he returned to South Africa after appearing in Athol Fugard's anti-apartheid play, "Sizwe Banzi Is Dead," here and in New York. The actor was lured from his home by a telephone caller who said Kani was wanted at his father's home. On the way there, Kani says he was surrounded by police, who beat him and left him for dead. |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202053116/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/09/26/apartheid-through-an-angry-lens/2137ff43-6f28-4efb-97df-3d5f19a7c9e0/ |url-status=live }}

His son Atandwa is also an actor, who made his debut on U.S. television on the CW series Life Is Wild, and played a younger version of Kani's character T'Chaka in Black Panther.{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/tshisa-live/tshisa-live/2018-01-30-john-kani-on-black-panther-premiere-i-knew-we-would-introduce-a-different-african/|title=John Kani on Black Panther premiere: 'I knew we would introduce a different African'|website=TimesLIVE|access-date=19 February 2018|archive-date=17 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231117194204/https://www.timeslive.co.za/tshisa-live/tshisa-live/2018-01-30-john-kani-on-black-panther-premiere-i-knew-we-would-introduce-a-different-african/|url-status=live}}

Kani joined The Serpent Players (a group of actors whose first performance was in the former snake pit of the zoo, hence the name){{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} in Port Elizabeth in 1965 and helped to create many plays that went unpublished but were performed to a resounding reception.{{Cite news |last=Motswatswa |first=Kelebogile |author-link=Mail & Guardian |date=24 May 2019 |title=John Kani, the king of South African theatre |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2019-05-24-00-john-kani-the-king-of-south-african-theatre/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102132053/https://mg.co.za/article/2019-05-24-00-john-kani-the-king-of-south-african-theatre/ |archive-date=2 January 2023 |access-date=23 February 2024 |work=Mail & Guardian}}{{Cite news |last=Sandomir |first=Richard |author-link=The New York Times |date=5 August 2018 |title=Winston Ntshona, Tony-Winning South African Actor, Dies at 76 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/05/obituaries/winston-ntshona-tony-winning-south-african-actor-dies-at-76.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405223711/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/05/obituaries/winston-ntshona-tony-winning-south-african-actor-dies-at-76.html |archive-date=5 April 2023 |access-date=23 February 2024 |work=The New York Times}}

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. Kani also received an Olivier Award nomination for his role in My Children! My Africa!{{cite web |title=The big interview– DR John Kani |url=https://iono.fm/e/726593 |website=SA fm |access-date=9 July 2020 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802180319/https://iono.fm/e/726593 |url-status=live }}

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 (which ran for 159 performances) and The Island.'{{cite web |last1=Hetrick |first1=Adam |title=Tony Award-Winning South African Actor Winston Ntshona Dies at 76 |url=https://www.playbill.com/article/tony-award-winning-south-african-actor-winston-ntshona-dies-at-76#:~:text=Tony%20Award%2DWinning%20South%20African%20Actor%20Winston%20Ntshona%20Dies%20at%2076,-News&text=Ntshona%20and%20co%2Dstar%20John,Is%20Dead%20and%20The%20Island. |website=Playbill |access-date=9 July 2020 |archive-date=31 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031012130/https://www.playbill.com/article/tony-award-winning-south-african-actor-winston-ntshona-dies-at-76#:~:text=Tony%20Award%2DWinning%20South%20African%20Actor%20Winston%20Ntshona%20Dies%20at%2076,-News&text=Ntshona%20and%20co%2Dstar%20John,Is%20Dead%20and%20The%20Island. |url-status=live }} These two plays were presented in repertory at the Edison Theatre for a total of 52 performances.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

In 1987 Kani played Othello in a performance of William Shakespeare's play of the same name in South Africa, which was still under apartheid. "At least I'll be able to kiss Desdemona without leaving a smudge," he said then.{{cite web |url=http://mg.co.za/article/2014-04-26-20-bizarre-apartheid-moments |title=[From our archives] 20 bizarre apartheid moments | Opinion | Analysis | M&G |website=Mg.co.za |date=26 April 2014 |access-date=11 May 2016 |archive-date=14 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514142701/http://mg.co.za/article/2014-04-26-20-bizarre-apartheid-moments |url-status=live }}

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 the best actor and best new South African play.{{cite web |title=Nothing But the Truth |url=https://witspress.co.za/catalogue/nothing-but-the-truth/ |website=Wits University Press |date=25 October 2011 |access-date=9 July 2020 |archive-date=9 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200709213520/https://witspress.co.za/catalogue/nothing-but-the-truth/ |url-status=dead }} In the same year, he was also awarded a special Obie Award for his extraordinary contribution to theatre in the United States.{{cite web |title=Bonisile John Kani |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/bonisile-john-kani |website=South African History Online |access-date=9 July 2020 |archive-date=22 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231122235922/https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/bonisile-john-kani |url-status=live }}

Kani is executive trustee of the John Kani Theatre Foundation, founder and director of the John Kani Theatre Laboratory and chairman of the National Arts Council of SA.{{cite book |last1=Cornwell |first1=Gareth |last2=Klopper |first2=Dirk |last3=MacKenzie |first3=Craig |title=The Columbia Guide to South African Literature in English Since 1945 |date=2010 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=USA |isbn=978-0231130462 |page=114}} He starred as T'Chaka in the Marvel Studios blockbusters Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Black Panther (2018). The fact that Kani was a Xhosa native speaker led Chadwick Boseman, who played his onscreen son T'Challa, to make that Wakanda's language, and to learn whole scenes in Xhosa, although he had never studied the language before.

In 2019, Kani appeared in the Netflix film Murder Mystery where he played Colonel Ulenga. He then voiced Rafiki in The Lion King (the photorealistically animated remake of the Disney animated film).{{cite web|url=http://www.thewrap.com/john-kani-rafiki-lion-king/|last1=Gonzalez|first1=Umberto|last2=Verhoeven|first2=Beatrice|title='Lion King' Rafiki Casting: John Kani, 'Civil War' Star, to Play Wise Baboon (Exclusive)|website=TheWrap|date=7 August 2017|access-date=7 August 2017|archive-date=8 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808165738/http://www.thewrap.com/john-kani-rafiki-lion-king/|url-status=live}}

Kani's play, Kunene and the King, a co-production for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Fugard Theatre, played in the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2019 before transferring back to Cape Town. He starred alongside Antony Sher.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rsc.org.uk/kunene-and-the-king/about-the-play|title=About the play | Kunene and the King | Royal Shakespeare Company|website=rsc.org.uk|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=8 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240608172331/https://www.rsc.org.uk/kunene-and-the-king/|url-status=live}}

On 20 February 2010, Kani received a SAFTA Lifetime award.{{cite web |title=All the 2010 SAFTAs winners |url=https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/66/44985.html |website=Bizcommunity |access-date=9 July 2020 |archive-date=10 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200710033528/https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/66/44985.html |url-status=live }} He has also received the Avanti Hall of Fame Award from the South African film, television, and advertising industries, an M-Net Plum award and a Clio award in New York. Other awards include the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation Award for the year 2000 and the Olive Schreiner Prize for 2005. He was voted 51st in the Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004.{{cite web |title=In Conversation with Dr John Kani, Author, Actor, Director, Playwright |url=https://www.gibs.co.za/news-events/events/forums/pages/in-conversation-with-dr-john-kani-author-actor-director-playwright.aspx |website=Gordan Institute of Business Science University of Pretoria |access-date=9 July 2020 |archive-date=11 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711141639/https://www.gibs.co.za/news-events/events/forums/pages/in-conversation-with-dr-john-kani-author-actor-director-playwright.aspx |url-status=live }}

In 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Cape Town.{{cite news |url = http://www.uct.ac.za/generic.php?m=/news/emp/index.php?id=3048 |title = Honorary doctorates for June graduation |work = Electronic Monday Paper |publisher = University of Cape Town |date = 12 June 2006 |access-date = 7 August 2006}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}} Vol 25 No 14 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University appointed him an honorary Doctor of Philosophy in 2013.{{cite news |url = http://www.peherald.com/news/article/14017 |title = NMMU to honour John Kani |work = Port Elizabeth Herald |date = 10 April 2013 |access-date = 17 April 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034237/http://www.peherald.com/news/article/14017 |archive-date = 4 March 2016 |url-status = usurped }}

In 2016 Kani received the national honour of the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver, for his "Excellent contributions to theatre and, through this, the struggle for a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa".

The main theatre of the Market Theatre complex in Newtown, Johannesburg, has been renamed The John Kani Theatre in his honour.{{cite web |url=http://markettheatre.co.za/press-releases/read/the-main-theatre-is-renamed-to-honour-dr.-john-kani |title=The Main Theatre is renamed to honour Dr. John Kani |website=Markettheatre.co.za |access-date=11 May 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610165235/http://markettheatre.co.za/press-releases/read/the-main-theatre-is-renamed-to-honour-dr.-john-kani |archive-date=10 June 2016 }}

In 2020 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of the Witwatersrand.{{cite web |last1=Jordaan |first1=Nomahlubi |title=Wits confers honorary doctorates on John Kani and Dr Isidor Segal |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-07-09-wits-confers-honorary-doctorates-on-john-kani-and-dr-isidor-segal/ |website=The Times |access-date=9 July 2020 |archive-date=9 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200709165100/https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-07-09-wits-confers-honorary-doctorates-on-john-kani-and-dr-isidor-segal/ |url-status=live }} Recently, in 2021, John Kani has been conferred the Da Vinci Laureate by The Da Vinci Institute.

In 2023 he was awarded an Honorary OBE from British Government for services to drama.{{cite web |title=Honorary awards to foreign nationals in 2023 |date=2023 |publisher=Gov.UK |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/honorary-british-awards-to-foreign-nationals-2023/honorary-awards-to-foreign-nationals-in-2023 |access-date=28 October 2023 |archive-date=25 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425174216/https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/honorary-british-awards-to-foreign-nationals-2023/honorary-awards-to-foreign-nationals-in-2023 |url-status=live }}

• Sizwe Banzi is Dead (1972) (co-authored with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona)
• The Island (1973) (co-authored with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona)
• Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (co-authored with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona)
• My Children My Africa! (actor)
• Nothing But the Truth (2002) (sole playwright)
• The Tempest (2008) (actor in the role of Caliban, at the Baxter Theatre, Cape Town; Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon; and tour of Richmond, Leeds, Bath, Nottingham, Sheffield)
• Missing (2014) (actor and sole playwright)
• Kunene and the King (2019) (actor and playwright)

• Nothing But the Truth (2002)

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|0434712|John Kani}}
• [https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/bonisile-john-kani Bonisile John Kani] at SA History Online
• {{TVSA name|id=4660}}

{{TonyAward PlayLeadActor 1947-1975}}

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Category:1942 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century South African male actors

Category:21st-century South African male actors

Category:People from New Brighton, Eastern Cape

Category:Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga

Category:Honorary officers of the Order of the British Empire

Category:South African dramatists and playwrights

Category:South African male film actors

Category:South African male television actors

Category:South African male voice actors

Category:Tony Award winners

Category:Xhosa people