It turns out that Kenyans have been around Hollywood for a very long time. Almost 8 decades, to be precise.
Unknown to many some Kenyan actors have had illustrious careers even making it to the Hollywood and other top film industries.
Some of the top actors to have joined the leading American film maker include:
Lupita Amondi Nyong’o
She was born on 1st March 1983 in Mexico. The popular Kenyan-Mexican actress was raised in Kenya. Later on, she joined Hampshire College in the United States and obtained a degree in film and theatre studies. Lupita began her acting career as a production assistant in Hollywood.
She is the first Kenyan and also the first Mexican to win an Academy Award for stirring in the film 12 Years a Slave. Ms. Nyongo’ was also nominated for the Tony Award Best Actress following her performance in the play ‘Eclipsed’. Many have fallen in love with her acting skills and this has landed her more featured films recently like the Queen of Katwe
Benjamin Onyango
He first appeared alongside Bruce Willis and Monica Bellucci in Tears of the Sun (2003). He played the role of Colonel Emanuel Okeze, a bodyguard to the president’s son.
He left Kenya in 1987 to pursue further education in the United States of America. He attended California State University, Stanislaus in Turlock, California, but later relocated to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in Music and Acting.
Charles Mnene
He isn’t necessarily a Hollywood chap and you might not know him but Charles Mnene has made a name quite for himself. He is a Kenyan-British film, television and stage actor and has made guest role appearances in The Bill, Holby City, Doctors and the drama Ahead of the Class, with Julie Walters. He continues to appear in films, stage and television work and has made cameos and notable roles in films like Richard Jobson’s New Town Killers, 7 Lives, Shoot the Messenger, and John Akomfrah’s Games Men Play
Kiran Shah
He is a poet, an actor, and a stuntman known for his role as a scale double for Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Shah is a Kenyan -Indian born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya until he was 12 years old when his family moved back to India.
Owiso Odera
Odera the son of the late Henry Odera Oruka (1944 – 1995) a popular Kenyan philosopher who is best known for “Sage Philosophy” a project aimed at preserving the knowledge of the indigenous thinkers in traditional African communities.
Mary Oyaya
Oyaya has made extras in other films like Lost Souls with Wynona Ryder, Down and Under, and the SyFy Network TV series Farscape.
Eddie Gathegi
Eddie was born in Nairobi, Kenya but grew up in Albany, California. He has also appeared in other major movies including Twilight (2008), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I (2011), X-Men: First Class (2011), and TV series like The Blacklist (2011-present), The Blacklist: Redemption (2017), and The Family Tools (2013) to name a few.