Bio
David Dukas was a South African actor best known for his role as Mike Jennings in the e.tv soapie Backstage.
He was born in Virginia, a gold mining town located in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality of the Free State Province in South Africa, about 140km (90mi) northeast of Bloemfontein.
David grew up in Allanridge, Welkom, Bloemfontein and Klerksdorp. From a very young age he would accompany his mother, who was a member of the amateur dramatic society The Goldfields Players, to watch the rehearsals - and so began his love and passion for acting.
In 1984 his family moved to Klerksdorp where he immediately joined the Drama Club of Milner High School.
He matriculated from Milner in 1988 and in that same year won the Best Actor Award at the Western Transvaal SACEE Plays festival for his portrayal of the 'rugged man' in Lady Gregory's one act play The Rising of the Moon.
After High School he went on to complete the National Higher Diploma: Acting at Pretoria Technikon's School for Performing Arts (TUT) in 1992.
He began his career on the stage as an ad-hoc player for the former PACT (Performing Arts Council of Transvaal).
In 1993 he made his television debut in the Afrikaans series Triptiek. He followed this up with a role in Paradys in 1994 and in the same year joined the M-Net soap opera, Egoli: Place of Gold.
He played the role of Mike in the short-lived series 37 Honey Street in 1998. He has subsequently acted in numerous local and international television series and films.
Television shows include the soapie 7de Laan, It Rained Last Night, Natural Rhythm, The Legend of the Hidden City, The Res, Jozi Streets, Jacob's Cross, Black Sails, Isidingo, Binnelanders, Sterlopers and Strike Back.
Films include Hooded Angels, Berserkers and Beauty and the Beast (in which he played The Beast/Agnar) all for the British film company Peakviewing; Inside Out for Penguin/SABC; The Queen's Messenger for DO Productions; Sturm Der Liebe for Neue Deutsche; Slash for NAM; No Man's Gold; The Rose Grower and Stander for Apollo Pro Media.
Although he was best known for playing the villain he also enjoyed comedy. He played the role of Bobby Blackburn in e.tv's sitcom Madam & Eve, which won the show a Golden Rose award for best international situation comedy; and was the clueless Dr. Fidel Gastro in Casper De Vries' Haak en Steek.
From 2005-2007 he played the drug-dealing villain Mike Jennings in the youth soapie Backstage.
2009 marked a highlight in his film career when he was directed by Clint Eastwood in the film Invictus. Other highlights include working with James Corden on the BBC comedy series The Wrong Mans 2, in which he plays the role of Reza.
In 2008, after a long absence mainly due to film and television commitments, David returned to the stage, playing Sgt Hattingh in Biko... Where the Soul Resides, which premiered at The Grahamstown National Arts Festival.
In 2012 he played Sir George Grey in Princess Emma-Ukuzazi, which also premiered as a site-specific piece at the National Arts Festival.
In 2014 he played Cecil John Rhodes in Hinterland (an imagined meeting between Rhodes and Solomon Plaatje). He reprised his role of Rhodes for another two seasons in 2015 and 2016.
Although his main body of work was in English, David was fluent in Afrikaans and acted in a number of Afrikaans productions. Also a voice over and dubbing artist, he voiced the character of Vedat in the telenovela Die Wiel Draai.
In 2018 David landed the guest role of Elias Griffin Jnr. in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who.
In the second season of the kykNET drama series Die Byl he played the guest role of Paul Rubenheimer.
He also voiced the English dub of the role of Sitki (played by by Mehmet Pamukcu) in the telenovela Doodsondes.
David died of heart failure on 20 July, 2021. He was 51.