Biography
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in the former snake pit of the zoo, hence the name) in Port Elizabeth in 1965 and helped to create many plays that went unpublished but were performed to a resounding reception.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, c...
Known For
Complete Filmography
Mufasa: The Lion King
2024
as Rafiki (voice)
Mufasa, a cub lost and alone, meets a sympathetic lion named Taka, the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journ...
Murder Mystery 2
2023
as Colonel Ulenga
After starting their own detective agency, Nick and Audrey Spitz land a career-making case when their billionaire pal is kidnapped from his wedding.
Seal Team
2021
as Brick (voice)
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 ov...
The Lion King
2019
as Rafiki (voice)
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. Sc...
The Space: Theatre of Survival
2019
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 Th...
Murder Mystery
2019
as Colonel Ulenga
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.
Black Panther
2018
as T'Chaka
King T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new leader. However, T'Chall...
Captain America: Civil War
2016
as King T'Chaka
Following the events of Age of Ultron, the collective governments of the world pass an act designed to regulate all superhuman activity. This polarize...
1994: The Bloody Miracle
2014
as Narrator
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 hap...
Jail Caesar
2012
as Marius
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 ...
Falls the Shadow: The Life and Times of Athol Fugard
2012
as Self
Director Tony Palmer tells the incredible life story of Athol Fugard, the prolific playwright, novelist, and director who exposed the horrors of South...
How to Steal 2 Million
2011
as Julius Twala Snr.
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 ...
Coriolanus
2011
as General Cominius
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...
White Lion
2010
as Old Gisani
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 Afr...
Nothing But The Truth
2009
as Sipho
A South African librarian prepares for the return of the remains of his brother who died in exile.
Nothing But The Truth
2009
Director, Writer, Original Story
A South African librarian prepares for the return of the remains of his brother who died in exile.
Endgame
2009
as Oliver Tambo
The time is the late '80s, a crucial period in the history of South Africa. President P.W. Botha is hanging on to power by a thread as the African Nat...
The Bird Can't Fly
2008
as Stone
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 a...
Final Solution
2001
as Rev. Peter Lekota
The indoctrination of Gerrit Wolfaardt is complete: his family traditions, history, culture- even his church-have taught him that black South Africans...
The Tichborne Claimant
1998
as Bogle
Based on a true story, set in the late 19th century: Lord Tichborne, the ninth richest nobleman in England, disappears after a South American shipwrec...
Kini & Adams
1997
as Ben
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.
The Ghost and the Darkness
1996
as Samuel
Sir Robert Beaumont is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson to right the ship, Beaumont expects resu...
Soweto Green
1995
as Dr. Curtis
An American couple moves to Johannesburg after Nelson Mandela is elected president.
In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid
1994
as Self
A documentary overview and ideological critique of the South African film industry and cinema's historical relationship with apartheid.
Sarafina!
1992
as School Principal
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 Native Who Caused All the Trouble
1990
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 occupi...
Othello
1989
as Othello
After 400 years Shakespeare's great tragedy still has strong social and political relevance, and this celebrated production by leading actress and dir...
A Dry White Season
1989
as Julius
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 w...
Options
1989
as Jonas
An MBA goes to Africa to make a deal, but comes out with a Princess.
Saturday Night at the Palace
1987
South African drama set at a roadhouse in Apartheid.
An African Dream
1987
as Khatana
An Englishwoman travels to South Africa in 1906.
Miss Julie
1986
as John
This version of August Strindberg's play from 1888 takes place in South Africa in the 1980s. The servant John is black and Miss Julie a white landowne...
'Master Harold'... and the Boys
1985
as Willie
When Harold, a young white man, learns that his alcoholic, handicapped father is returning home, his frustration turns into racist viciousness against...
The Grass Is Singing
1981
as Moses
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 t...
A Sizwe Bansi Workshop
1981
as Himself
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 ...
Marigolds in August
1980
as Melton
Marigolds in August was written by Athol Fugard, who in the early 1980s was South Africa's most celebrated playwright. Fugard's intense political opin...
Victims of Apartheid
1978
as George O'Brien
George, a black South African, finds it hard to settle down in London after his experiences in South Africa.
The Wild Geese
1978
as Sgt. Jesse Blake
A British multinational company seeks to overthrow a vicious dictator in central Africa. It hires a band of (largely aged) mercenaries in London and s...
Sizwe Bansi is Dead
1974
as Styles/Buntu
Two Black South Africans discover what it means to lose their passbooks, which they must carry yo prove their identity during the apartheid era
Sizwe Bansi is Dead
1974
Writer
Two Black South Africans discover what it means to lose their passbooks, which they must carry yo prove their identity during the apartheid era
The Man in the Mirror
N/A
Set in Zululand South Africa three Zulu men must re-awaken sleeping demons when Mpiyakhe, now a successful Johannesburg businessman, returns home. Und...