John Kani
Bonisile John Kani OIS OBE (born 30 August 1942) is a South African actor. He is known for portraying T'Chaka in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Black Panther (2018), Rafiki in The Lion King (2019) and Mufasa: The Lion King as well as Colonel Ulenga in the Netflix films Murder Mystery (2019) and Murder Mystery 2 (2023).
Quotes
[edit]- ...to me as a reminder that every young actor rising in our nation carries the potential to change the world. May this inspire all who are on their way up to keep going, keep creating and keep believing.
- John Kani receives Lifetime Achievement Award at National Film and TV Awards,The Herald,Joy Mphande(25 November 2025)
- Dancers are nimble, constantly getting their bodies ready. Musicians are always making noise. But actors only work when the agent calls. So, by the time they go into auditions, one is so out of touch with himself or herself or what is required in the industry
- I decided to found the academy for actors already practicing in the sector who wish to upgrade and empower themselves
- We have a very small film industry. If I tell you now in America, there will be over 400 movies being made. If I go to England now, I’ll find about 50 to 100. I don’t want to talk about Nigeria, probably 3,000. So, I don’t want to call it the South African film industry, so I would rather say the South African creative sector.
- There are so many beautiful and powerful stories in Africa. They are in our culture from the beginning of time. We were kings and queens before all this colonisation and oppression. Those are the stories we must tell so that our children and the next generation could know that Nelson Mandela was not the first. There were others way before him that led the charge of a free independent Africa
- Inside the New Creative Academies Shaping South Africa’s Next Generation of Storytellers Mail& Guardian,Rolland Simpi Motaung(28 November 2025)
