Because it is the oldest inhabited continent on Earth, Africa is occasionally referred to as the “Mother Continent.” History suggests that more than 5 million years ago, humans and their predecessors first appeared in Africa and since then, the continent has continued to birth some of the finest of humankind.
More so, Africa has produced a number of well-known actors, models, musicians, and athletes. Some of these internationally recognized celebrities moved to other countries while they were young, while others stayed in Africa their entire lives. There are thousands of people on this list. But this post will update you on the top 25 international figures who were born in Africa.
1. Charlize Theron
The first on our list is Charlize Theron, a famous actress who was born on August 7, 1975, in Benoni, Transvaal, South Africa to her constructionist parents Gerda and Charles Theron. She was an only child who grew up on her parent’s farm in Benoni and had a difficult childhood plagued by illness and domestic strife.
However, her rays of hope began to shine at age 16 when she won a one-year modeling contract at a local competition in Salerno and moved with her mother to Milan, Italy.
After Theron spent a year modeling throughout Europe, she and her mother proceeded to the United States where she was able to train as a ballet dancer at Joffrey Ballet School.
Charlize was also introduced to acting in 1995 and came to international prominence after she starred in films like The Devil’s Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and The Cider House Rules (1999). She is currently one of the highest-paid Hollywood stars and has received numerous honors, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
2. Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British singer and songwriter who was born on September 5, 1946, in Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania. He lived most of his early life there before he was sent to India to stay with some of his relatives.
While in India, he began to take piano lessons which will serve as a build-up to his music career. In February 1963, Freddie returned to Zanzibar and after spending a year with his family, he was forced to flee Zanzibar for England in the spring of 1964 to escape the horrors of the uprising against the Sultan of Zanzibar and his predominately Arab regime, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of Arabs and Indians.
At Isleworth Polytechnic and Ealing Art College, respectively, he continued his education, earning a certificate in 1969, the same year he made his professional debut.
He is known to have performed in several bands like Queen and Smile and the entertainer remained active from 1969 to 1991 when he passed on from bronchial pneumonia brought on by AIDS. He became the first major rock star to die of AIDS.
3. Dave Mathews
Dave Matthews is an American singer-songwriter and musician who was born on January 9, 1967, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
His early life was spread across Johannesburg, Yorktown Heights, New York, and Cambridge, England due to the nature of his father’s job with IBM. Dave later started professional music in 1976 and naturalized a U.S. citizen in 1980. Meanwhile, before he was known as a musician, Dave Matthews was an amateur actor, appearing onstage in several productions at Charlottesville’s Offstage Theatre and Live Arts Theater in the early 1990s.
4. Hugo Weaving
When Hugo Weaving is mentioned, the action movie Matrix might be the first thing that comes to mind. Notwithstanding, Weaving’s birth on April 4, 1960, at the University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria, to English parents Wallace Weaving and Anne Lennard is also noteworthy. Some few years after his birth, his family decided to settle finally in the UK where Hugo was able to attend The Downs School, Wraxall, near Bristol, and Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital. He made his professional career debut in 1981 and is active to date.
5. Djimon Hounsou
Djimon Hounsou is a Beninese-American actor and model who was born on April 24, 1964, in Cotonou, Dahomey (present-day Cotonou, Benin). He emigrated to Lyon in France at the age of 12 and later moved to the United States in 1990. Djimon began his entertainment career by appearing in music videos and made his film debut in Without You I’m Nothing (1990).
Djimon is known to have frequently visited his birth country and he identifies with them by participating in certain traditional ceremonies and rites from time to time.
6. Anna Diop
Anna Diop is a Senegalese-American actress and model who was born in Senegal and moved to the United States at the age of six. In 2006, she made her television debut in a recurring role on Everybody Hates Chris, and in the following years, she guest-starred on Lincoln Heights, Whitney, and Touch. Anna is popularly known for starring as the main cast in the TV series Titans which started airing in 2018. Moreover, she has appeared in several other TV shows and movies since making her professional career debut.
7. Nilperi Şahinkaya
She is a Turkish actress who was born on 23 February 1988 in Senegal. Although she was born in Africa, Nilperi spent the better part of her childhood in Paris where she attended her primary school. She later moved to Bern in Switzerland and had her secondary education. In 2003, her parents divorced and she proceeded with her mother to Ankara in 2006. She continued her education at Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle and later enrolled in Bilkent University School of Music and Performing Arts. In between her study period, she was able to make her television debut with a role in the TV series Deniz Yıldızı. (2009-2010). The African-born actress has continued her career in television with several appearances in theatre, film, and television series.
SEE ALSO: https://weafrique.com/nollywood-actors-marital-status/
8. Mene Massoud
Mena is a Canadian actor who was born on September 17, 1991, in Cairo, Egypt & raised in Markham, Ontario, Canada to Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christian parents Gorgit and Mansour Massoud.
The famous actor and his family emigrated to Canada when he was three years old but he is still very close to his culture back home in Egypt. More so, Massoud is an admirer of Egyptian comedy movies and he believes he plays comedy roles with a different taste because he learned so much from Egyptian cinema. In September 2019, he was appointed an ambassador by Egypt’s Ministry of Migration for their new “Speak Egyptian” initiative, with the goal of preserving the Egyptian identity of those living abroad.
9. Roger Whittaker
Roger Whittaker is a British singer and songwriter who was born in Nairobi to English parents Edward and Vi Whittaker. He lived most of his life in Kenya and moved to Britain in September 1959.
Roger continued his education at the University College of North Wales, where he is also known to have started performing. He was later signed to Fontana Records, which released his first professional single, The Charge of the Light Brigade in 1962. The entertainer has kept and cherishes his Kenyan roots despite being identified with Britain.
10. Florence Kasumba
Florence Kasumba is a German actress who is best known for her portrayal of Ayo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). Kasumba was born on 26 October 1976 in Kampala, Uganda but she moved to Essen, Germany at a very young age where she was able to attend elementary and high school.
She later proceeded to Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Tilburg and bagged a degree in acting, singing, and dancing. Furthermore, Florence made her professional career debut in the Dutch motion picture hit Ik ook van jou, while still studying in college. With a number of critically praised films, the actress, who was born in Uganda, continues to be prolific on the big screen.
11. Peter Mensah
This individual hardly needs an introduction. You would be aware of what a superb performer he is if you had seen movies like Spartacus, 300, Snake Eyes, or The Incredible Hulk. Despite this, Peter belongs to a group of world-famous people who were born in Africa. The English actor was born to Ghanaian parents on August 27, 1959, in Chiraa, Ghana. At a tender age, his family relocated to Hertfordshire, and in 1995, he began his professional career. Peter has made regular visits to Ghana and was notably present during his father’s funeral in November 2017.
12. Souad Faress
Souad Faress is an English actress who was born in Accra, Ghana on 25 March 1948 to Irish and Syrian parents. However, she left for England when she was still a child and was raised in Southport, Lancashire. Furthermore, Souad studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has nationalized as a citizen of the U.K.
Moving on, Faress made her television debut in a small role in I, Claudius in 1976 as a slave girl and has since appeared in numerous series. Faress has had substantial roles in films such as My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and Sixth Happiness (1997), as well as many stage works around the UK.
13. Claudia Cardinale
Claudia is an Italian actress who was born and raised in La Goulette, a neighborhood of Tunis, Tunisia on 15 April 1938 to Sicilian parents, Francesco Cardinale and Yolande Greco. Cardinale was educated at the Saint-Joseph-de-l’Apparition school of Carthage, which she attended along with her siblings. She made her professional debut in 1957 and has since nationalized as an Italian citizen. So far, she has been featured in several Italian movies. Meanwhile, she speaks Tunisian Arabic fluently despite leaving Tunisia several years back.
14. Poorna Jagannathan
Poorna Jagannathan is an American producer and actress of Indian descent who was born in Tunis, Tunisia, and grew up in Pakistan, Ireland, India, Brazil, and Argentina respectively. Her father, G. Jagannathan, was an Indian diplomat and his frequent travels with his family made Poorna able to speak Tamil, Hindi, English, Spanish, and Portuguese fluently. Poorna attended the University of Brasília and the University of Maryland, College Park at different intervals. Regarding her entertainment career, she made her professional debut in 2001 and has appeared on several TV shows like Big Little Lies, Better Call Saul, and Ramy. She has won critical acclaim for her role as a spunky, irreverent journalist in the 2011 Bollywood film Delhi Belly.
15. Edi Gathegi
Edi is a Hollywood star who was born on March 10, 1979, in Nairobi Kenya to Kenyan parents. However, he moved to Albany Califonia, U.S. very early in life and was raised there.
He attended the University of Califonia, Santa Barbara New York, and later enrolled in New York University’s Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 2005. Gathegi’s first professional acting role was as the Haitian Cabbie in the 2006 film, Crank. He has also made significant appearances in movies like Twilight, X-Men, and Death Sentence. Edi is always proud to identify with his Kenyan roots and has always appreciated Kenyans who have shown him great love and support in his career.
16. Bakhard Abdi
Barkhad Abdi and his family moved to Yemen when he was about 6 years old because of the Somali Civil War. Prior to his exodus, he was born to Majeerteen parents on April 10, 1985, in Mogadishu, Banaadir, Somalia. Abdi and his family relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where there is a large Somali community. He graduated from Roosevelt High School in 2003 and attended Minnesota State, University Moorhead.
Abdi made his debut in the 2013 film Captain Phillips, playing ship hijacker and pirate leader Abduwali Muse. The American actor has also been featured in critical movies like Good Time (2017), The Pirates of Somalia (2017), and Blade Runner 2049 (2017).
17. Dean Geyer
Dean is a South African-Australian singer-songwriter, actor, and martial artist who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, as the oldest of three children.
Geyer’s interest in music started early in his childhood and he learned to play the guitar and wrote several songs before moving to Australia where he continued his music pursuit and education at Melbourne High School.
The South African-born entertainer also released a music album titled Rush in 2007. Similarly, was able to make his film debut in Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown. (2011).
18. Sasha Pieterse
Sasha is a South African-born American actress, singer, and songwriter who is known for her role as Alison DiLaurentis in the Freeform series Pretty Little Liars and its spin-off Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. She moved to the United States when she was about 4 years old and was raised in Las Vegas before moving to Los Angeles.
She became accustomed to entertainment at an early age, as her parents were a professional acrobatic dance team who performed internationally. At six years old, Pieterse got her start in television, co-starring in 2002 as Buffy on The WB’s remake of the CBS sitcom Family Affair.
19. Sade
Sade was originally born Helen Folasade Adu on 16 January 1959 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria to Nigerian-British parents Adebisi Audu and Anne Hayes. The singer moved to England at the age of 4 and had her education at Clacton High School and Colchester Institute. She continued her education at Saint Martin’s School of Art and after completing a three-year course in fashion design, and later modeling briefly, Sade began backup singing with the British band Pride.
After her moments of singing back up, she started her career professionally in the early 80s with multiple solo performances. On 18 October 1983, Sade Adu signed with Epic Records to begin the recording of her debut album Diamond Life. Diamond Life had international sales of over six million copies, becoming one of the top-selling debut recordings of the ’80s.
20. Hakeem Kae-Kazim
Hakeem Kae-Kazim is a Nigerian-British actor who is best known for his work in the Starz television series Black Sails and his portrayal of Georges Rutaganda in the 2004 drama film Hotel Rwanda. Kae-Kazim was born in Lagos, Nigeria, where he spent his early years before his family relocated to London, England.
He graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1987 and was offered a space with The Royal Shakespeare Company where he continued his classical training. Kae-Kazim has said he is truly honored to be associated with Africa as he is currently a global ambassador for Africa 2.0, a civil society organization providing a platform for emerging and established African leaders to drive forward the transformation of Africa.
21. Dayo Okeniyi
Dayo is a Nigerian-American actor, popularly known for playing the role of Thresh in The Hunger Games and Danny Dyson in Terminator Genisys. He was born on June 14, 1988, in Jos and grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. While his father is a Nigerian, his mother hails from Kenya.
In 2003, he moved with his family to Indiana, United States, from Nigeria. He continued his education at Anderson University, Indiana, where he bagged a bachelor’s degree in visual arts in 2009. Dayo has used his platform to shine a light on health injustices especially as it relates to the distribution of CVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria and other African countries.
22. Marc Zinga
Marc Zinga is a Belgian actor, singer, and filmmaker who was born on 21 October 1984 in Likasi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zinga moved to Belgium with his family at the age of five and later began his acting career appearing in small film and television roles before landing major roles in the films Scouting for Zebras and May Allah Bless France! in 2014.
The award-winning Congolese-Belgian actor is also known to have starred in other movies like Dheepan (2015) and The Mercy Jungle (2018).
23. Hugh Quarshie
Born on 22 December 1954 in Accra, Ghana, Hugh Quarshie is a Ghanaian-born British actor. Some of his best-known roles include his appearances in the films Highlander (1986), The Church (1989), and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999).
Hugh emigrated with his family to the United Kingdom at the age of three and he was educated at Bryanston School in Dorset and Dean Close School in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He is proud of his Ghanaian origins and has maintained close links with his birth country.
24. Johnny Flynn
He is a British singer-songwriter and actor who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on March 14, 1983.
At the age of two, he moved with his family to the U.K. where he won a music scholarship to Pilgrims School, an independent school in the city of Winchester in Hampshire. As part of his scholarship’s conditions, he was to sing in the chapel choir and learn two instruments which he did.
Later, he also taught himself guitar and won a second music scholarship to Bedales School, an independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield, also in Hampshire. On completing Bedales, he proceeded to Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art to study acting. He started performing professionally in 2005 and is still active to date.
25. Fallon Bowman
Another international celebrity who was born in Africa is Fallon Bowman. She happens to be a talented British-Canadian musician and actor who was born in Cape Town, South Africa on 16 November 1983. It is not exactly known when Fallon left South Africa but she is known to have co-founded the heavy metal band, Kittie with her classmate at the age of 14. The South African-born is not just a musician but has also appeared in several commercials and movies like A Mother’s Lie (2021) and The Perfect Pairing (2022).
