Leleti Khumalo (born 30 March 1970) is a South African actress known for her leading role in the movie and stage play Sarafina.
She also played roles in other films such as Hotel Rwanda, Yesterday and Invictus, as well as the soap opera Imbewu: The Seed where she plays Nokubonga “MaZulu” Bhengu and on Uzalo as MaNzuza.
Early life and Sarafina
Khumalo was born in KwaMashu township, north of Durban, South Africa. Showing an interest in performing from an early age, she joined a youth backyard dance group called Amajika, mentored by Tu Nokwe.
In 1985 she auditioned for the Mbongeni Ngema musical which was to become the international blockbuster Sarafina!; Ngema wrote the lead character of Sarafina for Khumalo.
She later married him, but they divorced. She is currently married to businessman Skhutazo Winston Khanyile and she gave birth to their twins Ulwenzile and Yamukelani Khanyile.
Khumalo performed the role of Sarafina on stages in South Africa and on Broadway, where she received a 1988 Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.
Sarafina! had a Broadway run lasting two years, after which the production embarked on a worldwide tour.
In 1987 Khumalo received an NAACP Image Award for Best Stage Actress. In 1992, she starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Miriam Makeba and John Kani in Darrell James Roodt’s film version of Sarafina!, which had a worldwide distribution, and became the biggest film production to be released on the African continent.
Khumalo was nominated for an Image Award, together with Angela Bassett, Whoopi Goldberg and Janet Jackson.
Based on the 1976 Soweto youth uprisings, Sarafina! tells the story of a young school girl who is not afraid to fight for her rights and inspires her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher, Mary Masombuka (Goldberg) is imprisoned and murdered.
In 1993, Khumalo released her first album, Leleti and Sarafina.
Sarafina! was re-released in South Africa on 16 June 2006 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the youth uprisings in Soweto.
Subsequent roles
Khumalo co-starred in Mbongeni Ngema’s international musical Magic at 4 AM which was dedicated to Muhammad Ali. She subsequently starred in another Ngema musical, Mama (1996), which toured Europe and Australia