South African actor Bongile Mantsai has been cast as the lead in Identity, a new SABC1 series. The programme will premiere on May 8th.
The multi-award-winning former Scandal actor, who played the villain Mthunzi Mayiza, will play a pastor in it, a case of art mimicking life because he is a preacher in real life.
According to entertainment pundit Phil Mphela, Mantsai would play the character of a priest. Fans are acquainted with him performing tough bad parts in past programmes, so this will cast him in a fresh light.
The series synopsis is similar to that of the Bourne movie. To bring it back home, it nearly looks to be a spin-off of Hlala Kwabafileyo, a legendary 1980s IsiZulu drama series that aired on SABC 1 and starred TV veteran Don Mlangeni Nawa (Zebedee Matabane in Isidingo).
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In Scandal, he portrayed Mthunzi, the man who kidnapped and killed the formidable Siseko Langa, played by Hlomla Dandala. He then married his daughter Xolile (Sive Mabuya) to go a step closer to his aim of stealing their fortune.
Mantsai also plays Mkhuseleli (MK) in season two of Mzansi Magic’s The Republic. In the political drama series, he plays a devious South African deputy president (officially Minister of Police) who plots to replace President Mulaudzi (Florence Masebe). MK bosses everyone about and uses harsh language when addressing the cabinet after gaining the presidency.
Before making the switch to television, the 40-year-old actor was well-known in the film business. For his part in the 2017 film Inxeba: The Wound, he received a SAFTA Golden Horn for Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film.
He received the SAFTA Golden Horn Award for Best Actor in a Feature Film in 2020 for his performance in the 2019 film Knuckle City. He also won the SAFTA Golden Horn for Best Actor in a TV Soap for his work in Scandal in 2020.
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