Top South African Actors

Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, a city in the greater Johannesburg area, in South Africa, the only child of Gerda Theron (née Maritz) and Charles Theron. She was raised on a farm outside the city. Theron is of Afrikaner (Dutch, with some French Huguenot and German) descent, and Afrikaner military figure Danie Theron was her great-great-uncle.

Theron received an education as a ballet dancer and has danced both the "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker". There was not much work for a young actress or dancer in South Africa, so she soon traveled to Europe and the United States, where she got a job at the Joffrey Ballet in New York. She was also able to work as a photo model. However, an injured knee put a halt to her dancing career.

In 1994, her mother bought her a one-way ticket to Los Angeles, and Charlize started visiting all of the agents on Hollywood Boulevard, but without any luck. She went to a bank to cash a check for $500 she received from her mother, and became furious when she learned that the bank would not cash it because it was an out-of-state check. She made a scene and an agent gave her his card, in exchange for learning American English, which she did by watching soap operas on television.

Her first role was in the B-film Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995), a non-speaking part with three seconds of screen time. Her next role was as Helga Svelgen in 2 Days in the Valley (1996), which landed her the role of Tina Powers in That Thing You Do! (1996). Since then, she has starred in movies like The Devil's Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) and The Italian Job (2003). On February 29, 2004, she won her first Academy Award, a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Monster (2003).

Alice Maud Krige was born on June 28, 1954 in Upington, South Africa where her father, Dr. Louis Krige, worked as a young physician. The Kriges later moved to Port Elizabeth where Alice grew up in what she describes as a "very happy family", a family that also included two brothers (both of whom became physicians) and her mother, Pat, a clinical psychologist. Interestingly, Alice also grew up without television, something which the actress calls a "huge black hole in my education" (South Africa did not start getting television until 1976, a year after Alice left the country to pursue an acting career in London).

While growing up, she had no dreams or aspirations of pursuing an acting career, in fact as a child she had wanted to become a dancer, but her father disapproved. Instead, she prepared to follow in the footsteps of her mother by attending Rhodes University in Grahamstown where she pursued an undergraduate degree in psychology and literature (graduating in 1975). However, as luck or fate would have it, Alice decided to "take up a bit of timetable" by enrolling in a drama class in order to make use of a free credit. This decision would prove to be a life-altering one, resulting in an honors degree in drama from Rhodes, a move to London and a new career path. As Alice explains, "I really got into it and it took over my life... it became my life-calling, all consuming."

After arriving in England, she began three years of study at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. Her first professional acting performance was a tiny television role in a 1979 BBC Play for Today. In 1980, Alice made her feature film debut as Sybil Gordon in the Academy Award winning Best Picture, Chariots of Fire (1981). She then appeared in the television adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities (1980), which was followed by her memorable, dual role as the avenging spirit in Ghost Story (1981). Also in 1981, she debuted in a West End theatre production of Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, for which she received the honors of both a Plays and Players Award and a Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer. It was this early success in theatre that she decided to focus her career on next by spending some time working with the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company.

During her two seasons with the RSC (1982-83), Alice performed in such productions as "King Lear", "The Tempest", "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Cyrano de Bergerac". After her stint with the Royal Shakespeare Company, she returned to work in film and television. Her career could best be described as an eclectic mix of both mediums. She appeared in a diverse range of films, such as King David (1985), Barfly (1987), Haunted Summer (1988), Spies Inc. (1992) and See You in the Morning (1989). Her work in television included critically acclaimed miniseries, such as Ellis Island (1984) and Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985), as well as a healthy dose of what Alice herself calls, "kitchen sink dramas".

This eclectic trend continued into the 1990s. In addition to numerous roles in television (including appearances on Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990) and Becker (1998), Alice also appeared in the films Sleepwalkers (1992), Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream That One Calls Human Life (1995), Donor Unknown (1995), Amanda (1996), Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997), Habitat (1997), The Commissioner (1998) and Molokai (1999). However, one notable standout was the film Star Trek: First Contact (1996) for which she won a 1997 Saturn Award for her portrayal of the Borg Queen. This is without a doubt the most commercial, mainstream film with which she has been involved. However, due to the amount of make-up and prosthetics that the role required, Alice claims that even today she is still most recognized from her role in Ghost Story (1981).

One obvious and lasting impact of her experience with Star Trek: First Contact has been her initiation into the world of Star Trek/sci-fi conventions. These weekend-long conventions take place all over the United States and Europe (primarily in the United Kingdom and Germany). They feature "guests", such as Alice, who give presentations, sign autographs, etc. The new millennium finds her with several new projects to her credit, which include such works as The Little Vampire (2000), the Star Trek: Voyager (1995) series finale "Endgame", Attila (2001), Dinotopia (2002), Reign of Fire (2002), Children of Dune (2003), The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) and a recurring guest role in the HBO series Deadwood (2004). Current projects include a film about the life of Julius Caesar, the horror film Silent Hill (2006), Lonely Hearts (2006) and The Contract (2006). In addition, she continues to make sporadic convention appearances and was recently awarded an honorary doctorate in literature from Rhodes University.

Alice Krige is married to writer/director Paul Schoolman, and lives what she describes as an "itinerant" lifestyle. Although she and her husband maintain a permanent home in the United States, they spend much of their time living and working abroad.

This alert and classy actress seemed poised for Hollywood stardom in the early 1970s. Although it wasn't meant to be, Janet Suzman has remained one of the more respected classical stage players of her time. Born in 1939, she was raised in a staunchly liberal household in South Africa at a time when the country was moving toward the formal racial discrimination of apartheid. Suzman studied languages at the multi-racial Witwatersrand University in the late 1950s and was an active member of the drama society. She left South Africa during the height of her country's oppression, and moved to England in 1959.

Making her professional stage debut with "Billy Liar" in 1962, she almost immediately joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and received rave notices for her Joan of Arc in "The War of the Roses." She made her official London debut in a production of "A Comedy of Errors" in 1963. In the ensuing years Janet built up an impressive classical resumé portraying most of Shakespeare's illustrious heroines including Rosalind, Portia, Ophelia, Beatrice and the shrewish Kate. She also appeared in several BBC-TV versions of the classics.

In 1969 she married director Trevor Nunn and together they collaborated on some of England's finest stage productions during the early 1970s, notably "Antony and Cleopatra" (1972), "Titus Andronicus" (1972) and "Hello and Goodbye" (1973), which won Suzman the Evening Standard award. She won a second for her role of Masha in the 1976 production of Chekhov's "The Three Sisters." They had a son, Joshua, before they divorced in the 1980s. Later work included notable roles in "She Stoops to Conquer," "The Good Woman of Setzuan" and her "Hedda Gabler."

In the early 1970s she branched out into films. Following an auspicious turn in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972), she won the coveted role of Czarina Alexandra in the florid historical piece Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) co-starring Michael Jayston, in which she enjoyed a sterling British cast in support - including Harry Andrews, Jack Hawkins, Ian Holm, John McEnery, Laurence Olivier and Michael Redgrave. Suzman received an Oscar nomination for her performance, and bigger things seemed inevitable. She went on to grace a number of films, including Voyage of the Damned (1976), Nijinsky (1980) and Priest of Love (1981).

In a reprise of her real life family's activism, Suzman co-starred in the anti-apartheid film A Dry White Season (1989) portraying the wife of the Donald Sutherland character. The cast included other progressive activists such as Susan Sarandon and Marlon Brando (who received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor). In a change-of-pace role, she played a Mother Superior in the hysterical farce Nuns on the Run (1990).

In the 1980s Suzman was inspired to direct and coach. She was a visiting professor of drama at Westfield College, London, and later returned to South Africa to provide multi-ethnic castings in versions of Shakespearean plays. Making her directing bow in a production of "Othello" at the Market Theatre in 1987, some of her more notable assignments included "Death of a Salesman" (1992) and a reworked politicized version of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" set in South Africa, titled "The Free State" (1997). In 2002 she returned to the RSC to perform in "The Hollow Crown," and most recently appeared in a London production of "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" (2005) starring Kim Cattrall.

Into the millennium, other than a couple of films such as Max (2002) and Felix (2013), Suzman appeared primarily on the smaller screen in such TV series as Tinga Tinga Tales (2010) (as the voice of the Ostrich) and Sinbad (2012), and a role in the mini-series Labyrinth (2012).

Born and raised in South Africa. She appeared briefly in the very thought-provoking and memorable independent production Rush opposite Chris Hemsworth and directed by Ron Howard; As a Loyalist Nurse in J. J. Abram's award winning sci-fi series on Fox, Fringe with Anna Torv. Other credits include the moving documentary Rebel of the Keys broadcast to over 3 million viewers on ORF Austria and nominated Best Film at Warsaw International Jewish Film Festival.

Sharlto Copley was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to Linda Stocks and Bruce Copley, a former university professor. His childhood dreams of acting were put on hold for many years when his television production company was one of few in his native South Africa granted licensing to create content for broadcast. Rather than acting in front of the camera, Copley found himself the businessman running the production behind the scenes, becoming South Africa's youngest television producer at age 25. It was during this time that he met a then-teen-aged Neill Blomkamp, who worked at Copley's company in exchange for use of the computers to pursue his talent for design. Blomkamp would many years later go on to direct Copley in his star-making debut as nervous bureaucrat Wikus van de Merwe in the Oscar nominated science fiction hit District 9 (2009). Copley followed this by fulfilling another childhood dream, landing the role of H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock in the big screen adaption of the 1980's TV hit The A-Team (2010) and was also directed by Blomkamp once again in the movie Elysium (2013). He now continues to split his time between his native South Africa and Hollywood, pursuing more opportunities in front of and behind the camera.

Arnold Vosloo was born in Pretoria, South Africa, to stage actor parents, Johanna Petronella Vorster and Johannes J. Daniel Vosloo. He is an Afrikaaner (of mostly Dutch, as well as German, Swiss-German, Danish, and French, descent).

Vosloo quickly established a fine reputation as an actor in his native South Africa, winning several awards there for his theater work, including "More Is 'n Lang Dag", "Don Juan" and "Torch Song Trilogy". A regular performer with South Africa's State Theatre, he also played leading roles in "Savages", "Twelfth Night" and "Hamlet". His film career in the RSA brought him The Dalro Award as Best Actor for both Maneuvers (1984) and Circles in a Forest (1989), and the Dalro Best Actor Nomination for the film version of More Is 'n Lang Dag.

After moving to the United States, he appeared in "Born In The R.S.A." at Chicago's Northlight Theatre and starred with Al Pacino and Sheryl Lee in a Circle In The Square Uptown production of "Salome" (his character's name was "Jokanaan"). The latter running for a total of 18 performances only between June 28, 1992 and July 2, 1992. Vosloo's film credits include Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), John Woo's Hard Target (1993) (produced by James Jacks and Sean Daniel), Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995) and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996), both directed by Bradford May, and George Miller's Zeus and Roxanne (1997). Equally at home on the television screen, Vosloo appeared in American Gothic (1995) for Fox and Nash Bridges (1996) for CBS.

Born in 1983 and raised in Durban, South Africa, Adhir Kalyan moved to London to pursue an acting career. He appeared as a guest star on the BBC series Holby City (1999) and MI-5 (2002). Kalyan's first leading role was in the CW's comedy series Aliens in America (2007), in which he played Raja, a devout Pakistani Muslim exchange student in Medora, Wisconsin, who tried to assimilate to the foreign culture there while staying true to his beliefs.

A Dutch South African, Musetta Vander was raised without that most basic of modern conveniences--television! Radio programming, childhood books and weekend trips to the drive-in introduced her to the magical world of movies. It was not until the mid-'70s that South Africa finally got television, and the big black box in the family living room "miraculously" sprang to life.

However, as the daughter of a ballet teacher, Musetta was no stranger to the entertainment world and debuted on stage at the age of four. Her childhood was filled with numerous dance performances including "Giselle", "Coppelia", "The Student Prince" and "Showboat", and, shortly after completing school, she qualified as a ballet teacher herself.

After earning a BA in Communications and Psychology, she landed the plum job as anchor host for an MTV-like television show in South Africa. One day, a handsome visiting American, Jeff Celentano, spotted her on television, made her his bride, and whisked her off to the very place she had always dreamed of--Hollywood.

Shortly after her arrival, she became part of the very world she used to host, appearing as the "dream girl" in more than 20 music videos for such top recording artists as Rod Stewart, Amy Grant, Tina Turner, Elton John and Chris Isaak.

It was her critically acclaimed stage performance in the original South African play "Soweto's Burning", about the trials of an interracial friendship in that racially segregated country, that provided her transition to the big screen. Musetta has since performed in numerous feature films, including collaborating with her husband on Under the Hula Moon (1995) and Gunshy (1998). She has also worked alongside such screen veterans as Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh and Will Smith in Wild Wild West (1999), George Clooney and John Turturro in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and John Hurt and Louis Gossett Jr. in Monolith (1993). She's also added a slew of television credits to her arsenal, including guest appearances on the hit shows Star Trek: Voyager (1995), Stargate SG-1 (1997) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).

Recently Musetta made a return to the stage, combining both her dance and acting background in an extremely successful adaptation of Molière's "The Bourgeois Gentleman" at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Kandyse McClure was born in South Africa. Kandyse is an actor, known for Virgin River (2019), Charmed (2018) and Battlestar Galactica (2003).

Presley Chweneyagae was born in 1984 in Soweto, Transvaal, South Africa. He is an actor and director, known for Tsotsi (2005), The River (2018) and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013).