MEET OUR FACILITATORS
The John Kani Performing Arts Academy (JKA) is proud to partner with some of South Africa’s most respected and award winning practitioners in the creative arts. These facilitators are not just instructors – they are artists and leaders whose work has shaped our cultural landscape. Every course at JKA is taught by a specialist with deep expertise and ongoing relevance in the field.
Dr John Bonisile Kani OIS OBE
Founder, Actor, Playwright, Director
JOHN KANI is an actor, a director and a playwright.
John Kani started his career in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, with the Serpent Players Drama Group and in 1986 he joined the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. John co-wrote Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona and in 1974 he won the Tony Award on Broadway for Best Actor for his performance in these two productions. He also received an Obie Award in New York for his performance in The Island.
In 1989, together with the late Barney Simon, he co- founded the Market Theatre Laboratory, a drama school for black youth who for academic and/or financial reasons could not attend other tertiary institutions. The Laboratory has now become the crucible of new talent and new works. Over the past 36 years, the Laboratory has graduated more than 300 actors, many of whom are working in the theatre, film and television industries in South Africa.
John Kani has received Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Durban Westville, Rhodes University, University of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela University and Wits University.
John Kani has also been awarded the John F Kennedy Gold Medal Award for his contribution to Humanity and Excellence in the Arts; Sotigui Honor Cinema Afrique Award and the inaugural Ousmane Sembene Award for his contribution to the advancement of the African Film Industry; Voices Of Freedom Award for his contribution to peace through dialogue; Pragnell Shakespeare Birthday Award for making Shakespeare accessible to broader communities and audiences and the Ubuntu Cultural Award- Legend as a Cultural Ambassador by the Department of International Relations and Co-operation.
John received the Olive Shriner Prize Award from the English Academy of Southern Africa for writing Nothing But The Truth. The film of Nothing But The Truth received the Silver Stallion at Fespaco, Burkina Faso; Best Film in the Milan International Film Festival and at the Cameroon Film Festival.
His latest play Kunene and the King, which has performed in the United Kingdon, United States and South Africa, was included in the ten highlights of the 60th Anniversary of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
In 2005 John received the Order Of Ikamanga Silver from the President of the Republic of South Africa for his contribution to the struggle for a free, non-racial and democratic South Africa. In 2023 he received The Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire- OBE- for his contribution to the Arts.
