(
Originally published: 14 June, 2007)
Seeings as we all had a rip being tortured by choosing our
Top 5 shows I thought it would be purfect for us to go into more crisis by listing our fave actors of all time.
To make the task easier I've started with a list of ten guys and split them into two fives: five Mzansi faves and
five international ones.
Yet again it's been strinickity making final decisions but after spending about six or seven hours smokin' on both lists I've finally got ones I'm very pleased with.
Here's my Mzansi list:
1. Fana Mokoena
To me Fana's
performance as Jaws in
The Lab goes down as
the most brilliant performance by a local TV actor ever. Each moment he played in the show had so many different things going on that you could watch what he was doing over and over again and get a new and extra angle on what was going on with his character.
What I lurve so much about him is his sense of humour that runs under the surface of everything he does. Even when he's in a scene that's gutting he has a humour about him.
The strange thing is that it doesn't make you chuckle at the scene but rather it moves you even more deeply - sort of like what Robert de Niro does when he goes bad.
A final reason Fana's my best is 'cos I saw him in an interview about a theatre show he was directing and he was hysterical. He was sitting between the interviewer and his directing partner who was rambling on about how intense and meaningful the play was and Fana didn't mutter a word but rather spent the entire time madly rolling eyes.
2. Jamie Bartlett
The way Jamie Bartlett so passionately stepped into Mike O'Reilly's thuggish shoes and committed to every aspect of who he was - even when it was unflattering and evil - was highly praiseworthy. I can still vividly remember the sound of his scummy English accent even though I didn't watch
Isidingo religiously at the time.
Every fibre of his being
was Mike.
3. Aaron Moloisi
Both Aaron and Lucky Koza were most excellent in
After 9 so I h'mmed and hah'd between them and settled on Aaron 'cos Hector was fully out of the closet. Aaron played Hector's acceptance of himself and who he was with 200% conviction whereas Lucky was still uncertain and ended up not being who he truly was. I know it all had to do with their characters but still -
Also, Aaron's performance was so different from anything he'd done previously he came out as an actor in a big way and proved just how versatile he is.
Plus he's not so insecure that he felt the need to do a Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain and get married to a co-star in real life just so that we wouldn't think he's really gay.
4. Luvo Mgweba
My all time fave newcomer who sadly wasn't given a proper chance to strutt his stuff. The performance Luvo gave as Ndoda in uMthunzi we Ntaba was so bombly I can't believe he hasn't immediately been cast as a lead in something else.
There were some scenes he played on the show that were so natural and so masterfully timed that you couldn't work out whether he was actually acting or if they'd simply just happened to catch him on film.
He also responded to each of the different characters around him perfectly - many acting types say that acting's all about responding instead doing things and he responded all the time - often hardly doing anything but doing tons at the same time.
5. James Ngcobo
There hasn't been a single thing that I've seen James in where he hasn't delivered a top class performance. His SAFTA awards for both his dramatic role as editor Joe Dlamini in
Hard Copy 1 and his comedy in
Stokvel proves that he's a pro. at anything.
I've always grooved on him but what really put him on my all-time list was when I caught him the shockingly bad
90 Plein Street. I can't believe anyone could put that show out and genuinely think we'd find it even vaguely entertaining - I mean it's as oppressive and eye-stabbingly boring as spending a day in parliament.
Anyway, I caught him in it and in the middle of all the depressing grey corridors and wooden acting he managed to make his scenes work and even got me giggling. Only the best of the best actors can conquer such unforgiving circumstances.
That's my 5-some. What's your list?