Rajesh Gopie, is a South African

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n descent. He is best known for the roles in the television serials ''Stellenbosch'', ''Professionals'' and ''The World Unseen''.

Personal life

He was born in Durban, South Africa to an Indian family. He obtained his B.A. degree in English, Drama and History at the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...

. In July 2020, his aunt Dolly Singh died at the age of 76 by COVID-19 complications.

Career

After his graduation, he moved to England for a year and studied drama further. After his return to South Africa, he made the stage play ''Out of Bounds'' which deals with life and times of South African Indian families. After returning to South Africa, he joined with several stage plays such as ''Be Proud, Be Yourself'', ''Out of Bounds'' (1999), ''The Coolie Odyssey'' (2002), ''The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife'', ''The Chimp Project'', ''Romeo and Juliet'', ''Back to the Faith'', ''Mahatma vs Gandhi'', ''The Pinter Sketches'', ''The Wiz'' and ''Hamlet'' (2005). In the meantime, he worked as the playwright for the plays, ''Out of Bounds'' (1999), ''Be Proud'', ''Be Yourself Out of Bounds'' (2001), ''Mahatma-Madiba'', ''Marital Bliss'' and ''Too Close for Comfort''. In 2001, he won the award for the Best New Indigenous Script at

Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards The Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards are a set of annual awards that recognize prominence in professional theatrical productions held within the vicinity of Cape Town, South Africa. These awards encompass 20 categories in total. History The Three ...

for the play ''Out of Bounds''. He also directed, written and played in the popular stage play ''The Coolie Odyssey'' in 2002. In 2013 he was awarded the Oppenheimer Scholarship where he went London to pursue post-graduate studies. Then he completed his master's degree in Actor training and coaching at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2014. In 2015, he became a theater director with the stage play ''Yerma'' which was written by Federico García Lorca. In 2017, he acted in the

South African Indian Indian South Africans are South Africans who descend from indentured labourers and free migrants who arrived from British India during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority live in and around the city of Durban, making it one of the la ...

comedy film '' Keeping Up with the Kandasamys'' directed by Jayan Moodley. The film became the first South African Indian film to be screened widely in theaters. It stars Jailoshini Naidoo, Maeshni Naicker, Madhushan Singh, and Mishqah Parthiephal. The film later became the highest-grossing film in South Africa in 2017, and the highest grossing South African film worldwide in 2017. In 2018, he appeared in the South African Indian action crime film ''

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

''. He played the lead role of 'Aziz' in the film, which later received positive reviews. The film was also screened at the 62nd

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...

and Africa in Motion Film Festival in October 2018.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

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Forgive me, asks actor Rajesh Gopie after stadium racist rant

Actor slammed for racist comments over Mabhida Stadium violence

Indian or not: You are a racist, Rajesh Gopie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gopie, Rajesh Living people South African people of Indian descent South African male film actors South African male television actors Male actors from Durban Year of birth missing (living people)