Presley Chweneyagae

Presley Chweneyagae October 19 1984 May 27 2025 was a South African actor best known for his breakthrough lead role in Tsotsi 2005 Chweneyagae went into acting at an early age taking acting classes from the age of 10 His first major role proved to be a historymaking one securing the part of David aka Tsotsi in Gavin Hoods searing 2005 crime drama Tsotsi In the film set in a Johannesburg township Chweneyagae plays a smalltime hoodlum who steals a car only to discover a baby in the back seat that causes him to change his ways Tsotsi was a huge hit with critics with praise especially for Chweneyagaes performance The film was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for best foreign language film becoming the first South African film to win an Oscar The success of Tsotsi secured Chweneyagaes place as one of the best known South African actors As well as features Chweneyagaes found great success on domestic television and was arguably better known in South Africa for his lead role in the popular telenovela The River 202824 In the Pretoriaset show which takes place in the diamond mining industry Chweneyagaes scheming villainous and charismatic Thuso Cobra Mokoena became a fan favorite and he received his own spinoff series Cobrizi The River won Chweneyagae a South African Film and Television Award in 2019 and helped Chweneyagae become a streaming star outside South Africa as the series became popular in other parts of Africa As well as film and TV Chweneyagae was deeply involved in theater boasting extensive credits and starring in several Shakespeare productions Chweneyagae also wrote and directed plays He cowrote with Paul Grootboom the acclaimed stage play Relativity and directed the awardwinning production CELL NO 4 Chweneyagae died from natural causes on May 27 2025 at the age of 40