Get to know Chuma from Isitha-The Enemy.

Thobani Nzuza is a South African dramatist, actor, director, vocalist, and African dancer best known as Mdeni in the Mzansi Magic drama series eHostela , currently playing Chuma on Isitha.

Born in the KwaZulu-Natal settlement of Umlazi, he began his artistic adventure in 2010 in a community arts center under the tutelage of Buhle ‘Bo’ Mlazi.

He graduated from Durban’s King Shaka High School in 2011 and attended the following year at Durban University of Technology, where he majored in acting.
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 organization in a worker’s hostel.

The series debuted on January 6, 2019.

Later in 2019, he landed his second starring role in television, this time in the e.tv supernatural telenovela Isipho, which debuted on July 1, 2019.

Thobani Nzuza has established himself as the go-to leading man for numerous local productions, from eHostela to Uzalo, DiepCity, and Isitha – but it has not been easy.

On e.tv’s daily program Isitha, he plays another deep part as Lazarus Ncuma.

“Being an artist has always been something that I wanted to do. When I was in primary school, I played lead in most of our performances,” said the 30-year-old actor.

“Most of the roles I’ve played are not too far apart based on their personalities. On eHostela, I was playing a gangster who was obsessed with protecting his mother, and on Uzalo, I played an inkabi from KwaZulu-Natal who cares about his music career.

“However, now, I play a man who lives two lives. He is a businessman who is family-oriented and would do anything for his loved ones, but moonlights as a street gangster, and is in love with an older woman who he kidnapped in Eswatini.

“Lazarus is a very complex character who is both challenging and emotionally draining to play, but I enjoy portraying both personalities because they feel more like a part of me, despite the fact that he walks around with a fake ID and I don’t.”

Nzuza was born in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), and reared there. He had always had a strong passion for performing art. He chose to study acting and production at Durban University of Technology after high school.

“When I was young, I never thought acting was a profession you could profit from,” he said.

The actor is one of the best, and he is so underrated, but surely he is a legend, and fans are noticing that the actor is extraterrestrial with his acting skills.