Bio
Thobani Nzuza is a South African playwright, actor, director, vocalist and African dancer best known for his starring role as Mdeni in the Mzansi Magic drama series eHostela.
Born in Umlazi township in KwaZulu-Natal, he began his journey in the arts in 2010 in a community arts centre where he studied under Buhle 'Bo' Mlazi.
He matriculated from King Shaka High School in Durban in 2011 and enrolled the following year at the Durban University of Technology, where he studied drama.
His first professional production, Silencing the Hurricanes by Themi Venturas, was performed in Bangkok in 2014.
Thobani also wrote and directed Shintsha Guluva for the Isigcawu Festival in 2014 and received the Best Director award.
In 2015 he performed in the Menzi Mkhwane play Secret Valley of the Great Kings, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Durban Mercury Theatre Awards.
In the same year he collaborated with Kagiso Tsimakwane in writing his first one-man show, Boy Ntulikazi, which he directed, performed in and later published.
The play won a number of accolades including Best Actor at the 2015 Isigcawu Festival, Best Actor at the 2017 Baxter Zabalaza Theatre Festival, Best Production at the 2017 Baxter Zabalaza Theatre Festival in Cape Town and Best Community Production at the South African Theatre Magazine Awards.
In 2016, Thobani represented African students in a Shakespeare festival in Germany (Folkwang Universität der Künste), in Much Ado about Nothing, directed by Debbie Lutge.
In 2018 he landed his first starring role in television in the Mzansi Magic drama series eHostela, which revolves around two brothers who - along with their father - run a powerful and secret organisation in a worker's hostel.
The series debuted on 6 January, 2019.
Later in 2019 he landed his second starring role in television, this time in the e.tv supernatural telenovela Isipho, which debuted on 1 July, 2019.