October 18, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini
PRESLEY Chweneyagae is on a roll. The film star has added the prestigious best actor laurels from the Black Movie Awards to his trophy shelf. He received the Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role award was for his part in Tsotsi.
Chweneyagae beat some of Hollywood’s top actors, including Denzel Washington who was nominated for Inside Man, Cuba Gooding Jnr for Shadowboxer and Tyrese Gibson for Waist Deep. The winners were named at a ceremony on Sunday, 15 October in Los Angeles.
Chweneyagae flanked by Tsotsi director, Gavin Hood and Terry Pheto, who plays Mirriam in the movie
The awards recognise creative achievement by people of African descent in feature-length films and honours outstanding movies portraying the black experience. A committee of film critics, entertainment editors and artists choose the nominees and winners from a list of eligible films released in the United States between August 1 of one year and July 31 of the following year.
In the film Chweneyagae plays the role of Tsotsi, a Johannesburg township thug who learns that human life has some value when he is forced to care for a baby he kidnapped. The film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film this year, making it the first South African film to win the award.
Born in North West Province in 1984, Chweneyagae acted in school plays and in community theatre projects. He performed in a number of productions for North West Arts, now known as the Mmabana Arts Foundation, and appeared in theatrical works like A Midsummer Night's Dream, Jack in the Box, Red Ball, King Lear and in the controversial play Cards.
He co-wrote Relativity – Township Stories, a play that tells the story of a serial killer, known as the G-String Strangler, who spends his nights stalking young girls. Chweneyagae made his television debut in 2000 in Orlando for SABC.
The outstanding actor honour is his latest award for Tsotsi; he also recently won best Actor in a Feature Film at the Apollo Film Festival and Best Actor at the Bangkok Festival for the film.
Permission to use web site material
Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as:
- Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website
(www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency
(www.joburg.org.za)";
- If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original
article on this website;
- The name of the article's author is acknowledged;
-
The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill
in this brief online form).
Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 |
