1. Early life

2. Career
    Television  Radio  Film  Business ventures 

3. References

• Actress
• Television Personality
• Artist
• Businesswoman

• Lasizwe Dambuza (half-brother)^[1]

Early life

Khanyisile Mbau was born at Florence Nightingale Hospital in Hillbrow, Johannesburg on the evening of October 15, 1985. Her mother, Lynette Sisi Mbau, worked in the finance department of the pension fund at Barclays Bank. Mbau's father Menzi Mcunu^[4] was not married to her mother at the time as the couple was only dating. Mcunu had no claim to the child but he named her nevertheless: Khanyisile, one who brings light. Mbau kept her mother's surname. Lynette soon left baby Khanyi with her parents in Mofolo, Soweto and returned to work leaving her grandmother virtually raising her.

Mbau's grandparents were very Western in the way they dressed and saw the world. Mbau said, "Gladys (her grandmother) would cane you if you broke the rules. She ran her household with the decorum and attention to detail of Buckingham Palace". Mbau lovingly referred to her as the "Queen of England". Mbau attended a white-only crèche called Flock on Eloff Street in downtown Johannesburg.

She also has a young brother Lasizwe Dambuza who is a television and radio personality and an actor.

Career

Television

In 2004, Mbau replaced actress Lindiwe Chibi in the role of Doobsie on Muvhango^[5] after Chibi was shot by her boyfriend. A year later she was fired from the role, reportedly for spending too much time partying and appearing in the Sunday tabloids. In 2006 Mbau joined the SABC 1 hit drama series Mzansi,^[6] in its second season as Mbali. SABC 1 did not renew the show for the third season. Later in 2007 Mbau played the role of Zee in the SABC 1 mini-series After 9.

In 2012 she was the guest judge on the second season of SABC 1's Turn It Out. In 2013 she starred in an episode of E.tv's anthology drama series, Ekasi: Our Stories.^[7] She also featured in the DStv Vuzu documentary, I Am and she portrayed Sindisiwe Sibeko on DStv's Mzansi Magic mini-series Like Father Like Son.^[8]

In August 2012, Mbau released her biography Bitch, Please! I’m Khanyi Mbau,^[9] written by the journalist Lesley Mofokeng. In 2013 she featured in the docu-reality television series Reality Check on E.tv. In the same year, Mbau began hosting her own talk show on the OpenView HD channel eKasi+, Katch It With Khanyi. The show was renewed for a second season in late 2014. It reached number one in audience share for talk shows, exceeding the share of SABC 2's Motswako. Katch It With Khanyi debuted with a viewership of 785,000 viewers which increased to 1,669,000 viewers in the first week of November 2014.^[10] During the show's second season, it was nominated for the South African Film and Television Awards 2015.

In 2014, Mbau competed in the seventh season of Strictly Come Dancing. On week 7 Mbau and partner Quintus Jansen failed to earn enough votes to remain in the competition, and she was eliminated. There was an initial controversy on social media as super-fans of Mbau expressed their disappointment and questioned the integrity of the voting process.^[11] In July 2015, MTV Africa launched lip sync battles with Mbau taking the award home.

In April 2015, Mbau landed a supporting role of Pinky in E.tv's first ever telenovela titled Ashes to Ashes (South African TV series). In November 2015, Mbau was nominated for "Best Instagram Account" in the Channel24 Online Awards, which honored local Musicians, Stars and Public Figures who have a powerful and influential online presence.

In March 2016, Mbau landed a role of Palesa Simelane in the hit television drama series Umlilo, where her character Palesa was a closet lesbian state prosecutor who entered into a polygamous marriage, and her sole purpose was to produce children in the Simelane household. In July 2016, Mbau landed a new Television Show on SABC 3 called The Weekend Edition alongside Radio and TV host Phat Joe. The duo hosted the lifestyle show on weekend mornings, filmed in Cape Town. In July 2017, Mbau bagged a new entertainment show titled The Scoop which aired on SABC 3 as part of the channel's new lineup The show is now in its second season. On September 1, BET Africa channel announced a new 13-part reality series titled The Big Secret hosted by Mbau. In the series, she gets participants to reveal their darkest secrets. The show aired to air on October 25, 2017 and ended with a 2-part reunion episode. The second season returns in the last quarter of 2018.

In March 2018, Mbau joined the cast of South Africa's most watched tv show Uzalo on SABC 1 portraying the role of a go-getter Dinekile aka Lady Die who is a shoplifter by trade and aspires for a life like her cousin MaNgcobo. Having done short stints in jail for petty crimes and knows her way around the underworld, she hasn’t achieved what she wants yet.

In April 2018, Mzansi Magic released a trailer of their new drama series titled Abomama that examines and challenges the ideas of faith and sin. Mbau takes the lead role playing Tshidi; an approval seeking former ghetto queen turned suburban wife who’s married to a reputable doctor played by Leroy Gopal. The show debuted with over a million-viewership making it the 3rd most watched show on DSTV.

Radio

In 2016, Mbau landed a radio show on Metro FM as the host of Whose show is it anyway alongside entertainers Somizi Mhlongo and Ntombi Ngcobo; the show premiered nationally on July 18, 2016 for a year until it came to an end in the reshuffle of the station.

Film

Mbau's first feature film, Happiness is a Four-letter Word, premiered on February 19, 2016.[20] She played the role of Zaza, a trophy wife to Bheki (Simo Magwaza) and mother of two who owns a shoe store. The film premiered with box office smashing numbers and continued with gross box office receipts over R7 Million in its third week on the cinema circuit. In October 2016, the Johannesburg Film Festival named Mbau among their top 10 South African Actresses in film, following the success of Happiness Is a Four-letter Word. Mbau's second film, a thriller titled The Red Room is set for cinema release later in 2018. In 2017, Mbau began production of her third film with filmmaker and comedian Leon Schuster titled Frank and Fearless which is set for cinema release later on in 2018.

Business ventures

In November 2018, Mbau announced the launch of her own brand of Gin called I Am Khanyi - Millenial Shimmer Gin'. Packaged in a soft pink bottle with gold labelling, I Am Khanyi sets to be in stores nationwide from the 1st of December 2018. ^[12]

References

Khanyi Mbau

• Yeldham
• Yeldham (surname)
• Yeldho Mar Baselios
• Yeldo Mar Baselios
• Yeldo Mar Baselios College
• Yeldos Akhmetov
• Yeldurthi
• Yeldurthy
• Yelechey
• Yelecki
• Yelecki District
• Yeleckii
• Yeleckii District
• Yeleckii Raion
• Yelecki Raion
• Yeleckiy
• Yeleckiy District
• Yeleckiy Raion
• Yelecky
• Yelecky District
• Yelecky Raion
• Yelecli, Gole
• Y. elegans
• Yelegen
• Yele Haiti