Akin Omotoso

Akin Omotoso (197*-) Actor, director and producer of stage, film and TV.

Biography

Born in Maiduguri, Nigeria, in 1974, he grew up in the university town of Ife, where he found his first love, writing. In 1992, his family moved to South Africa after his father, the academic, author and playwright Kole Omotoso (1943-2023), accepted a lectureship at the University of the Western Cape.

Omotoso completed his A-levels in South Africa, but struggled to get into university without a South African matric exemption. He enrolled for the only course at the University of Cape Town that did not require a matric exemption, the Performers Diploma in Speech and Drama.

Contribution to South African theatre, film, media and performance

Stage

Omotoso made his stage debut in the play Sunjata, directed by Mark Fleishman, and was awarded the Fleur du Cap Award for Most Promising Student for the performance in 1995. He also had roles in a few other stage productions.

After a few professional stage performances, including Twelfth Night, or What You Will, The Winter's Tale, Battle of the Black and the Dogs, he shifted to television and film as his preferred medium.

TV

After graduation Omotoso began to be cast in various TV series such as Generations, soon becoming a nationally recognised public figure.

Film

Omotoso had used the money he had received for the Fleur du Cap Award to shift from acting to acting, writing and directing for film and TV. His first work consisted of three short films, The Kiss of Milk, The Nightwalkers and The Caretaker,

In 1999 he began writing and directing independent films, releasing his first full-length film, God is African, in 2003, the year in which he, Robbie Thorpe and Kgomotso Matsunyane founded the production company T.O.M Pictures.

Another short film, Rifle Road, was selected for screening at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005 and the documentary Gathering the Scattered Cousins, made in tribute to his mother, was selected for screening at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival in 2006.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

The first film he made was The Night Time , followed by three short films, The Kiss of Milk, The Nightwalkers and The Caretaker and in 1999, his first feature film God is African. Omotoso directed another short film called Rifle Road, which was selected to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. He also made a documentary in tribute to his mother called Gathering the Scattered Cousins, selected for screening at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival in 2006.

He is a familiar face on the South African small screen having starred in Isidingo: The Need, Generations and Big Okes but his acting also extends to international experience. Acted opposite Nicolas Cage in Lord of War, and in 2006, was cast in the role of Paul Kagame, in Shake Hands with the Devil.

Awards, etc

He won the Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for most promising student in 1995.

He was the Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year (Film), 2007.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akin_Omotoso

Various entries in the NELM catalogue.

Interview with Bonita Boni published in the Daily Dispatch, 7 July 2007.

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