Bio
Oscar Petersen is a South African actor, writer and director best known for his recurring role as Slappie in the SABC2 drama series Swartwater.
He is also known for co-creating and starring in (with David Isaacs) the two-man comedy theatre show Joe Barber, in which he plays the role of Bra Joe.
Having graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Performers' Diploma in Speech and Drama (1991-1993), Oscar went on to record a large body of work in theatre, film and television.
Oscar has also worked as a teacher at the Drama Department at the University of Cape Town and at Stellenbosch University. He made his directorial debut Angels Everywhere in 2006.
In theatre, Oscar co-wrote and performed in the play Suip! with Heinrich Reisenhofer, which won the Fleur du Cap Award for Best New Indigenous Script in 1999. The play is about the "dop system", in which farm workers "payed" their workers in cheap wine, which resulted in rampant alcoholism in so-called "coloured" communities in the Western Cape.
In 2000 he teamed up with David Isaacs and Heinrich Reisenhofer to create the "Joe Barber" franchise of plays, which include Meet Joe Barber, Joe Barber and Boeta Gamat Too.
He was nominated in 1997 for an Avanti Award as Best Actor in a television drama, for a Fleur du Cap in 2005 for Joe Barber 3 and in 2007 he shared the Skouerklop Award at the Suidoosterfees with David Isaacs for their creation of Joe Barber.
A career highlight includes playing the part of Chiron in the British/South African co-production of Titus Andronicus, in which Sir Anthony Sher played the lead role.
Films he has acted in include The Quarry, Now or Never, Triomf, Zulu, Cold Harbour, Black South Easter, Tess, Tremors 6, Fracked and Noem My Skollie.
Oscar landed his first television drama in 1996, Hagenheim Streng Privaat, which aired on the SABC. In the same year he played the role of Dial in the SABC series Tussen Duiwels.
He has gone on to act in numerous television series (mostly Afrikaans dramas) including Vloeksteen, Die Byl, Traffic!, Suidooster, Die Boland Moorde, Swartwater and Sara se Geheim.
He was also a recurring guest participant on the second season of the kykNET comedy panel show Parlement Parlement, making his first appearance in Season 2, Episode 3 (which aired on 22 January, 2018).
Oscar resides in Cape Town.