The Most Famous

ACTORS from South Africa

This page contains a list of the greatest South African Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 13,578 Actors, 29 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 27th most number of Actors behind Ukraine, and Pakistan.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary South African Actors of all time. This list of famous South African Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of South African Actors.

1. Charlize Theron (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 63.88, Charlize Theron is the most famous South African Actor. Her biography has been translated into 96 different languages on wikipedia.

Charlize Theron, ( shar-LEEZ THERR-ən; Afrikaans: [ʃarˈlis ˈtrɔn];) born 7 August 1975, is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 2016, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Theron came to international prominence in the 1990s by playing the leading lady in the Hollywood films The Devil's Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and The Cider House Rules (1999). She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003), for which she won the Silver Bear and Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first South African to win an acting Oscar. She received another Academy Award nomination for playing a sexually abused woman seeking justice in the drama North Country (2005). Theron has starred in several commercially successful action films, including The Italian Job (2003), Hancock (2008), Prometheus (2012), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Atomic Blonde (2017), and The Old Guard (2020), as well as several Fast & Furious installments: The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021), and Fast X (2023). She received praise for playing troubled women in Jason Reitman's comedy-dramas Young Adult (2011) and Tully (2018), and for portraying Megyn Kelly in the biographical drama Bombshell (2019) she received her third Academy Award nomination. Since the early 2000s, Theron has ventured into film production with her company Denver and Delilah Productions. She has produced numerous films, in many of which she had a starring role, including The Burning Plain (2008), Dark Places (2015), and Long Shot (2019). Theron became an American citizen in 2007, while retaining her South African citizenship.

2. Glynis Johns (1923 - 2024)

With an HPI of 61.38, Glynis Johns is the 2nd most famous South African Actor. Her biography has been translated into 55 different languages.

Glynis Margaret Payne Johns (5 October 1923 – 4 January 2024) was a British actress. In a career spanning eight decades on stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays. She received various accolades throughout her career, including a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Laurence Olivier Award. She was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood and classical years of British cinema. Johns was born in Pretoria, South Africa, the daughter of Welsh actor Mervyn Johns. She appeared on stage from a young age and was typecast as a stage dancer from early adolescence, making her screen debut in South Riding (1938). She rose to prominence in the 1940s following her role as Anna in the war drama film 49th Parallel (1941), for which she won a National Board of Review Award for Best Acting, and starring roles in Miranda (1948) and Third Time Lucky (1949). Following No Highway in the Sky (1951), a joint British-American production, Johns took on increasingly more roles in the United States and elsewhere. She made her television and Broadway debuts in 1952 and took on starring roles in such films as The Sword and the Rose (1953), The Weak and the Wicked (1954), Mad About Men (1954), The Court Jester (1955), The Sundowners (1960), The Cabinet of Caligari (1962), The Chapman Report (1962) and Under Milk Wood (1972). On television, she starred in her own sitcom Glynis (1963). Renowned for the breathy quality of her husky voice, Johns sang songs written specifically for her both on screen and stage, most notably "Sister Suffragette", written by the Sherman Brothers for Disney's Mary Poppins (1964), in which she played Winifred Banks and for which she received a Laurel Award, and "Send In the Clowns", composed by Stephen Sondheim for Broadway's A Little Night Music (1973), in which she originated the role of Desiree Armfeldt and for which she received a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award.

3. Basil Rathbone (1892 - 1967)

With an HPI of 58.95, Basil Rathbone is the 3rd most famous South African Actor. His biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was an Anglo-South African actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films. Rathbone frequently portrayed suave villains or morally ambiguous characters, such as Mr. Murdstone in David Copperfield (1935), Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). His most famous role was that of Sherlock Holmes in fourteen Hollywood films made between 1939 and 1946 and in a radio series. Rathbone's later career included roles on Broadway, as well as self-ironic film and television work. In 1948, he shared the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play with two others. He was also nominated for two Academy Awards and honoured with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

4. Arnold Vosloo (b. 1962)

With an HPI of 56.68, Arnold Vosloo is the 4th most famous South African Actor. His biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Arnold Vosloo (born 16 June 1962) is a South African and American actor. He began his career as a stage actor and starring in South African films like Boetie Gaan Border Toe (1984). After emigrating to the United States in the late 1980's, he became known for playing villainous roles, most notably as Imhotep in The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001). Vosloo is also known for his roles in Hard Target (1993), Agent Cody Banks (2003), Blood Diamond (2006), Silverton Siege (2022), and as Zartan in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013). He played terrorist Habib Marwan in the fourth season of 24 (2005), Amit Hadar on NCIS (2009-10), Robin van Rees on Cape Town (2016) and Rudy Tafero on Bosch (2017).

5. Angelique Rockas (b. 1951)

With an HPI of 53.51, Angelique Rockas is the 5th most famous South African Actor. Her biography has been translated into 58 different languages.

Angelique Rockas is an actress, producer and activist. Rockas founded the theatre company Internationalist Theatre in the UK with her patron Athol Fugard. The theatre featured multi-racial casts in classical plays.

6. Cyril Cusack (1910 - 1993)

With an HPI of 52.18, Cyril Cusack is the 6th most famous South African Actor. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Cyril James Cusack (26 November 1910 – 7 October 1993) was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years. During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland's finest thespians, and was renowned for his interpretations of both classical and contemporary theatre, including Shakespearean roles as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and over 60 productions for the Abbey Theatre, of which he was a lifelong member. In 2020, Cusack was ranked at number 14 on The Irish Times' list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Born to an English mother and Irish father ,in South Africa and raised in County Tipperary, Cusack dropped out of law school to join the Abbey Theatre and remained with the company for 13 years, acting in over 60 plays. In London, he performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, and later founded his own company which toured across Europe. Making his film debut at age 8, Cusack worked with many top British directors, including Powell & Pressburger, Carol Reed, Peter Brook, Peter Hall, and Anthony Harvey. He co-starred opposite Richard Burton several times, who once commended Cusack's acting as "always himself and yet always totally different". Fluent in both English and Irish, Cusack had a starring role in the first Irish-language feature film, Poitín (1978). He was the patriarch of the Cusack acting family, as the father of Sinéad Cusack, Sorcha Cusack, Niamh Cusack, Pádraig Cusack, and Catherine Cusack.

7. Alice Krige (b. 1954)

With an HPI of 50.89, Alice Krige is the 7th most famous South African Actor. Her biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Alice Maud Krige (Afrikaans: [ˈkriːχə]) (born June 28, 1954) is a South African actress and producer. Her big break came in 1981, when she starred as the Gilbert and Sullivan singer Sybil Gordon in the British historical film Chariots of Fire, and as Eva Galli / Alma Mobley in the American supernatural horror film Ghost Story. She received a Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in the West End theatre production of Arms and the Man (1981) and later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Krige starred in various British, South African, European, and American films throughout her career. She starred in King David (1985), Barfly (1987), Haunted Summer (1988), See You in the Morning (1989), Sleepwalkers (1992), and Institute Benjamenta (1995). She played the role of the Borg Queen in the science fiction film Star Trek: First Contact (1996), for which she received a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, and reprised the role in Star Trek: Voyager (2001), Star Trek: Lower Decks (2021), and Star Trek: Picard (2023). Subsequent notable film appearances include The Little Vampire (2000), Silent Hill (2006), Skin (2008), Solomon Kane (2009), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010), Thor: The Dark World (2013), A Christmas Prince (2017) and its two sequels, and Gretel & Hansel (2020). She played the leading role in the 2021 psychological horror drama film, She Will. On television, Krige played Lucie Manette in the 1980 historical drama film A Tale of Two Cities, appeared in miniseries Ellis Island (1984) and Dream West (1986), the Holocaust drama Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985), and as Patsy Cline in the comedy-drama Baja Oklahoma (1988). In later years, Krige played Lady Jessica in Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003), Natalie Wood's mother in The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004), Joan Collins in Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure (2005), and Lady Russell in Persuasion (2007). Her regular roles include Tyrant (2014–15), The Syndicate (2015), and The OA (2016–19).

8. David Bailie (1937 - 2021)

With an HPI of 48.49, David Bailie is the 8th most famous South African Actor. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

David Bailie (4 December 1937 – 5 March 2021) was a South African actor known for his performances on stage, television, and film. In the 1960s and 1970s, he worked for both the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he was an associate artist. He played "Dask" in the 1977 Doctor Who serial The Robots of Death and also appeared in Blake's 7. Bailie portrayed "Skewer" in Cutthroat Island (1995), an English Judge in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), and also "The Engineer" in Gladiator (2000). David Bailie is perhaps best known for having played the mute pirate Cotton in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Bailie was also a professional photographer, specialising in portrait photography. He had a studio in West Kensington, London.

9. Sharlto Copley (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 47.45, Sharlto Copley is the 9th most famous South African Actor. His biography has been translated into 41 different languages.

Sharlto Copley (born November 27, 1973) is a South African actor. His acting credits include roles in the Academy Award-nominated science fiction film District 9, the 2010 adaptation of The A-Team, the science fiction film Elysium, the science fiction horror film Europa Report and the dark fantasy adventure film Maleficent. He also played the title character in the science fiction film Chappie, Jimmy in the science fiction action film Hardcore Henry, and starred in two seasons as Christian Walker of the TV series Powers. Copley is married to South African actress and supermodel Tanit Phoenix.

10. Cecil Kellaway (1890 - 1973)

With an HPI of 46.84, Cecil Kellaway is the 10th most famous South African Actor. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Cecil Lauriston Kellaway (22 August 1890 – 28 February 1973) was a South African character actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, for The Luck of the Irish (1948) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967).

People

Pantheon has 39 people classified as South African actors born between 1890 and 1996. Of these 39, 28 (71.79%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living South African actors include Charlize Theron, Arnold Vosloo, and Angelique Rockas. The most famous deceased South African actors include Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, and Cyril Cusack. As of April 2024, 10 new South African actors have been added to Pantheon including David Bailie, Charlbi Dean, and Ian Hunter.