The Sunday News
MULTI-TALENTED Zimbabwean actor Nkululeko Chunky Phiri has once again hogged the limelight with his deft acting skills, featuring as Sonnyboy in leading South African soapie The Queen.
Phiri, a former presenter at ZBC, featured in South Africa’s soapie Rhythm City in 2014 and previously, he acted in the film Everyone’s Child (1996) and Kini and Adams (1997).
Phiri, who is fluent in Tsonga, Shangaan, Venda, Ndebele, Shona and Sotho, features as a cunning father in The Queen, produced by South Africa’s celebrity couple Shona and Connie Ferguson, who also feature in the production.
“I think as an artiste you should not limit yourself to knowing your mother tongue and English. The more languages you learn the better the chances of landing jobs. It has never been easy to break into the market which is why one has to enhance their skills.
“I have had the privilege to learn Tsonga, Shangaan, Venda and Sotho which I understand and speak fluently. This is a country with 11 official languages and there is at least a production in every language, the more languages you know the better the chances to audition or land a role in more than one local production,” Phiri was quoted as saying by our sister paper, B-Metro, when speaking about the South African film industry.
In Zimbabwe, Phiri presented the Saturday music request show on ZTV before switching to Ezomgido where he was well popular with viewers for his humour. He was also a singer with imbube group Ihawu Lesizwe. He is also a celebrity fitness trainer in South Africa.
Phiri is part of the cast of Zimbabwean actors who have made it into the South African scene like Mbo Mahocs, who features as Chichi in Rhythm City, Leroy Gopal who broke into the showbiz scene in Zimbabwe as the lead actor the film Yellow Card, Ernest Ndlovu who features in South Africa’s Isibaya, Chiedza Mhende who featured in Generations and Yvone Katsande who features in The River, among others.
