Leleti khumalo photo biography
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Born in 1970 in Kwa Mashu township in KwaZulu Natal, Leleti Khumalo had no idea that she would grace stages and the silver screen. Sadly her father died when she was three years old, and her mother supported her and her three siblings as a domestic worker. Despite the harsh reality of poverty, Khumalo found happiness in music and dance and joined a youth backyard dance group called Amajika. It wouldn’t be until 1985 that her road to stardom would truly begin.
Khumalo met South African musician, actor, and playwright Mbogena Ngema while he was scouting for talent for his latest play, Sarafina! Sarafina! tells the story of the 1976 student uprising in Soweto against the apartheid regime. In a 1992 Premier magazine story, Khumalo said she rarely considered what the apartheid government did as injustices. “When I was a little girl, I just thought it was natural for all black people to be so very poor,” said Khumalo. “In South Africa, you don’t think you’
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Leleti Khumalo
Leleti Khumalo is a South African actress best known for her leading roles in the feature films Sarafina! (1992) and Yesterday (2004); as well as for her role as Busi Dlomo in the SABC1 soapie, Generations, from 2005-2008. Khumalo was born in 1970, in Kwa-Mashu township, north of Durban.
Displaying a talent for performing arts from an early age, she joined a youth backyard dance group called Amajika, mentored by Tu Nokwe. In 1985 she auditioned for Mbongeni Ngema's musical, which later became the international blockbuster Sarafina!. Ngema wrote the lead character of Sarafina, especially for Leleti. She enchanted audiences both in South Africa and on Broadway, where she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress. Sarafina! had a Broadway run lasting two years, after which the production embarked on a worldwide tour.
In 1987 Leleti received an NAACP Image Award for Best Stage Actress. In 1992, she starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg in Darrell James
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Leleti Khumalo
South African actress (born 1960)
Leleti Khumalo (born 30 March 1970) is a South African actress known for her leading role in the movie and stage play Sarafina! and for her roles in other films including Hotel Rwanda, Yesterday and Invictus, as well as the soap opera Imbewu: The Seed, where she plays Nokubonga "MaZulu" Bhengu and on Uzalo as MaNzuza, and currently on Muvhango as Dr Ximba.
Early life and Sarafina!
[edit]Khumalo was born in KwaMashu township, north of Durban, South Africa. Showing an interest in performing from an early age, she joined a ungdom backyard dance group called Amajika, mentored by Tu Nokwe.
In 1985 she auditioned for the Mbongeni Ngema musical which was to become the international kassasuccé Sarafina!; Ngema wrote the lead character of Sarafina for Khumalo. She later married him, but they divorced. She is currently married to businessman Skhutazo Winston Khanyile and she gave birth to their twins Ulwenzile an