Bio
Ebenhaezer Dibakwane was a South African comedian and actor who rose to fame after winning the Newcomer Award at the 6th annual Savanna Comic's Choice Awards in September 2016.
His standup comedy highlights included opening for award-winning comedian Dillan Oliphant at his first one man show, Oliphant in the Room; being part of the Stand Up 4 Comedy ensemble alongside Gavin Kelly, Virgil Prins and Mo Mothebe and being billed on the lineup of the Comedy Central International Comedy Festival alongside Trevor Noah, Aries Spears, Jeff Ross, Hannibal Buress, Marc Lottering, Basketmouth, Carl Joshua Ncube, Eugene Khoza, Tats Nkonzo and many more.
He also acted in theatre productions such as Marat/Sade, A Beautiful Thing, The Crucible, Horror Story and 24 Hours in the City.
Ebenhaezer made his television acting debut when he guest starred as a film crew director in the e.tv soapie Ashes to Ashes, in 2015. The following year he was a presenter on the SABC1 show Walala Wasala.
In 2016 he was a recurring guest and writer on the SABC2 sketch comedy show The Bantu Hour and appeared on the ANN7 sports show, Game On.
He was one of the featured comedians on the second edition of Comedy Central Roast Battle, in which three pairs of stand-up comedians use one liners, witty repartee and insults to score points against their comedy foes. His "opponent" in the battle was Richelieu Beaunoir and their segment was filmed at Parker's Comedy & Jive, Montecasino, Johannesburg on Thursday 30 June, 2016.
In 2017 he was also one of 21 comedians invited to promote South African comedy with Comedy Central in a campaign called #MakeLifeFunnier, with the aim of encouraging South Africans to appreciate and consume more local comedy both live and on television.
He was also a guest on the SABC3 comedy game show Is That a Fact?, appearing in Season 1, Episode 10 (which aired on 10 June, 2017). In the episode he claims that he once lived as a hobo in Grahamstown.
Ebenhaezer landed his first starring role in television in 2017, when he was cast as Kaygee, one of Thulani's best friends, in the SABC1 sitcom Thuli noThulani.
In 2018 he was one of the celebrity contestants on the first season of the M-Net reality competition Dancing with the Stars South Africa. His professional dance partner was Nombulelo Hlathi.
In the same year he starred as Kwame in the SABC1 supernatural miniseries Emoyeni.
He also had roles on the e.tv drama series Easy Money, the Netflix comedy drama Miseducation, SABC1's sitcom Thandeka's Diary, the e.tv soapie Smoke & Mirrors, SABC3's The Estate and the SABC2 anthology series Father's Matter where he headlined the first film.
Ebenhaezer commited suicide on 7 March, 2025, after a battle with depression. He was 31.