This is a list of 50 Most Popular Celebrities Born In “South Africa”. Most of these South African celebrities have been dominating both local and international TVs. The likes of Charlize Theron, John Kani, Trevor Noah and Arnold Vosloo are amongst the most popular ones almost everyone knows.
1. Charlize Theron
Actress, Mad Max: Fury Road
Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, a city in the greater Johannesburg area, in South Africa, the only child of Gerda Theron (née Gerda Jacoba Aletta Maritz) and Charles Jacobus Theron. She was raised on a farm outside the city. Theron is of Afrikaner (Dutch, with some French Huguenot and German) descent, and Afrikaner military figure Danie Theron was her great-great-uncle…
2. Sasha Pieterse
Actress, Pretty Little Liars
Sasha Pieterse was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to acrobatic dancer parents. At 6 years old, Sasha got her start in television, co-starring as “Buffy” on The WB comedy series Family Affair, opposite Gary Cole. She now returns to series television playing Cole’s daughter on Wanted…
3. Neil Sandilands
Actor, Hap and Leonard
Neil Sandilands was born in Randfontein, South Africa, on the 1st of May 1975. He is arguably one of the country’s most versatile actors. Most recently he starred as the character Titus in CW’s hit show “The 100” Season 3 (2016). At the same time he was also series regular on AMC/Sundance TV’s hugely popular flagship production “Hap and Leonard” (2016) as Paco…
4. Sharlto Copley
Actor, District 9
Sharlto Copley was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to Linda Stocks and Bruce Copley, a former university professor. His childhood dreams of acting were put on hold for many years when his television production company was one of few in his native South Africa granted licensing to create content for broadcast…
5. Kim Engelbrecht
Actress, Eye in the Sky
6. Kandyse McClure
Actress, Battlestar Galactica
Kandyse McClure is a Canadian actress born on March 22, 1980 in Durban in South Africa. She graduated from West Vancouver Secondary School in 1998. She is an actress, known for main roles in TV series Battlestar Galactica (2004), Hemlock Grove (2013), and from the movies Carrie (2002) and Seventh Son (2014).
7. Alice Krige
Actress, Thor: The Dark World
Alice Maud Krige was born on June 28, 1954 in Upington, South Africa where her father, Dr. Louis Krige, worked as a young physician. The Kriges later moved to Port Elizabeth where Alice grew up in what she describes as a “very happy family”, a family that also included two brothers (both of whom became physicians) and her mother…
8. Richard E. Grant
Actor, Logan
9. Neill Blomkamp
Director, District 9
10. Musetta Vander
Actress, The Cell
A Dutch South African, Musetta Vander was raised without that most basic of modern conveniences–television! Radio programming, childhood books and weekend trips to the drive-in introduced her to the magical world of movies. It was not until the mid-’70s that South Africa finally got television, and the big black box in the family living room “miraculously” sprang to life…
11. Arnold Vosloo
Actor, Blood Diamond
Arnold Vosloo was born in Pretoria, South Africa, to stage actor parents, Johanna Petronella Vorster and Johannes J. Daniel Vosloo. He is an Afrikaaner (of mostly Dutch, as well as German, Swiss-German, Danish, and French, descent). Vosloo quickly established a fine reputation as an actor in his native South Africa…
12. Tanit Phoenix Copley
Actress, Lord of War
13. Tammin Sursok
Actress, Home and Away
14. Johnny Flynn
Actor, Clouds of Sils Maria
Joe Flynn, A.K.A. Johnny Flynn, is an English poet, musician, and actor. He is the son of Eric Flynn, who was an actor who specialized in musicals. As a child, Johnny sang in the Winchester College chapel choir. He knew that he wanted to be a musician after listening to the Bob Dylan record…
15. Alex McGregor
Actress, Searchers
16. Glynis Johns
Actress, Mary Poppins
Husky voiced Glynis is the daughter of actor Mervyn Johns. Best known for her light comedy roles and often playful flirtation, Glynis was born in South Africa while her parents were on tour there (her mother was a concert pianist) but was always proud of her Welsh roots and took delight in playing the female lead (opposite Richard Burton) in the classic Under Milk Wood…
17. Justine Waddell
Actress, Mishen
18. Jessica Marais
Actress, Packed to the Rafters
Jessica Marais was born on the 29th January 1985 in South Africa and moved to Perth Australia at a young age. Recently she moved to Sydney where she has a TV role as Rachel Rafter in the Australian comedy series Packed to the Rafters. She has also recently appeared in the new Australian film Two Fists One Heart, filmed in Perth in 2007.
19. Cariba Heine
Actress, H2O: Just Add Water
20. Elon Musk
Self, Machete Kills
21. Dean Geyer
Actor, Neighbours
Dean Geyer was born on the 20th of March in 1986, into a family with two sisters. Geyer commenced his schooling in Australia by going to Melbourne High School. Geyer’s family have a strong connection to martial arts, with members from previous and current generations gaining ‘black-belts’ in karate…
22. Charlbi Dean Kriek
Actress, Death Race: Inferno
23. Basil Rathbone
Actor, The Adventures of Robin Hood
Basil Rathbone was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1892, but three years later his family was forced to flee the country because his father was accused by the Boers of being a British spy at a time when Dutch-British conflicts were leading to the Boer War. The Rathbones escaped to England, where Basil and his two younger siblings…
24. Yo-Landi Visser
Actress, Chappie
Anri du Toit, goes by her rap name Yo-Landi VI$$ER. She was born in Port Alfred, a small town on the East coast of South Africa, and was adopted as a baby by an Afrikaans family. Her dad was a priest and her mom was a housewife. She has never met her birth parents. Visser grew up very rebellious, often getting into fistfights…
25. Adhir Kalyan
Actor, Up in the Air
Born in 1983 and raised in Durban, South Africa, Adhir Kalyan moved to London to pursue an acting career. He appeared as a guest star on the BBC series Holby City and MI-5. Kalyan’s first leading role was in the CW’s comedy series Aliens in America, in which he played Raja, a devout Pakistani Muslim exchange student in Medora…
26. Cecil Kellaway
Actor, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Though a native of South Africa, Cecil Kellaway spent many years as an actor, author and director in the Australian film industry until he tried his luck in Hollywood in the 1930s. Finding he could get only gangster bit parts, he got discouraged and returned to Australia. Then William Wyler called and offered him a part in Wuthering Heights…
27. John Kani
Actor, Captain America: Civil War
28. Liesl Ahlers
Actress, Friend Request
Liesl Ahlers is a South African Actress. She studied Acting for Film & Television in Canada at the Vancouver Academy of Dramatic Arts (VADA). After graduating at the top of her class, she returned to South Africa. Upon returning she worked alongside William Hurt in BBC Two’s The Challenger Disaster…
29. Trevor Noah
Producer, The Daily Show
30. Ninja
Actor, Chappie
31. Dave Matthews
Thanks, 21 Grams
32. Gavin Hood
Actor, Ender’s Game
33. Tanya van Graan
Actress, Zulu
34. Dean Israelite
Director, Power Rangers
35. Roxane Hayward
Actress, Saints & Strangers
Roxane Hayward was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Having finished her final year of school at the age of 16, Roxane was given a head start in life. She studied Drama, Dancing and Musical Theatre for four years through Trinity College London and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance London (ISTD)…
36. Dena Kaplan
Actress, Honey 3: Dare to Dance
Dena Kaplan was born in South Africa and moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 1996. Dena is an actress and dancer who may be best known for her role as Abigail Armstrong in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation television series ‘Dance Academy’ (2010-2012). Kaplan attended high school in Melbourne and had dance training at numerous schools; Australian Ballet School…
37. Troye Sivan
Actor, X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Troye Sivan Mellet is South African born YouTuber, Actor, Model and Singer known mainly for The Spud Franchise and X-Men Origins, Wolverine. He moved to Perth, Australia when he was 2 years old, still living there now with his parents, 2 brothers and sister. He has over 3.8 million subscribers on YouTube with videos ranging from song covers to challenge videos…
38. Sidney James
Actor, Bless This House
The star of the Carry On series of films, Sid James originally came to prominence as sidekick to the ground breaking British comedy actor Tony Hancock, on both radio and then television. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa and named Solomon Joel Cohen, James arrived in England in 1946, second wife in tow…
39. Cyril Cusack
Actor, Harold and Maude
Cyril James Cusack was born in Durban, Natal, South Africa, to Alice Violet (Cole), a Cockney English actress and chorus girl, and James Walter Cusack, an Irish mounted policeman in Natal. He was brought up in Ireland. He was a child star on the Irish stage, appearing first at the age of 7. He toured Ireland with his own theater company…
40. Roger Michell
Director, Notting Hill
41. Dan Mindel
Cinematographer, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
42. Jonathan Liebesman
Director, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Jonathan Liebesman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on September 15, 1976. He would remain in his home country, studying filmmaking at the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance, until 1996; that year, he traveled to New York City to visit his cousin who was attending New York University. Soon after the visit, Jonathan enrolled at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts…
43. Candice Swanepoel
Self, Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
Candice Swanepoel is a supermodel best known for her work as a Victoria’s Secrets lingerie model. She appeared in nine Victoria’s Secret Fashion shows from 2007 through 2015 and became a Victoria’s Secret Angel in 2010. Swanepoel has appeared in the fashion shows and advertisements for many of the worlds top brands and designers…
44. Richard Stanley
Writer, Hardware
Richard Stanley is the award-winning South African-born filmmaker, who made a name of himself with his first feature film, the sci-fi movie Hardware. A low budget movie about a mad-dog android loose in an apartment was released in 1990. Critics slammed it as a Terminator rip-off, yet the film became a financial success…
45. J.R.R. Tolkien
Writer, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
English writer, scholar and philologist, Tolkien’s father was a bank manager in South Africa. Shortly before his father died (1896) his mother took him and his younger brother to his father’s native village of Sarehole, near Birmingham, England. The landscapes and Nordic mythology of the Midlands may…
46. Natalie Becker
Actress, Tremors 5: Bloodlines
47. Peter Youngblood Hills
Actor, The Beach
Peter is the son of an American mother and English father. He was brought up for the first few years in Botswana before moving to the USA where his father attended Indiana University to train as an opera singer. After his parents divorced in 1981 he lived in Tennessee with his mother but later joined his father in Scotland…
48. Suanne Braun
Actress, Survivor
Suanne made her professional debut in 1988 working as a TV presenter in her native South Africa. For five years, she hosted a travel series “Bon Voyage” which afforded her the opportunity of visiting over 36 countries and saw her winning her first award for excellence in television. Numerous TV specials followed including presenting the Miss World Pageant twice in 1992 and 1994…
49. Zakes Mokae
Actor, Waterworld
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, actor Zakes Mokae was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and became one of the most distinguished thespians in South Africa for over two decades. Mokae was one of the few actors capable of crossing the divided racial sections, punctuated by his collaborations with white writer Athol Fugard…
50. Elize du Toit
Actress, Skyfall
Source: IMDb