Khanyi Mbau

Real Name : Khanyisile Mbau

Born: 15/10/1985 (37 yo)
Birth place: Soweto (South Africa)

Citizenship : South-Africa

Occupation : TV Host, Journalist... , Actress, Model
Active Years: 2004 to present

Summary

Khanyisile Mbau known professionally as Khanyi Mbau is a South African television personality, actress and socialite. Raised in Soweto, Mbau rose to widespread prominence and became a household name as the second Doobsie in the SABC2 soap opera Muvhango (2004-2005); as Mbali in the SABC1 soap opera Mzansi and SABC1's mini-series After Nine. She is the host of Katch It With Khanyi.

Biography

Khanyisile Mbau was born at Florence Nightingale Hospital in Hillbrow in Johannesburg on the evening of October 15, 1985. Her mother, Lynette Sisi Mbau was a 25 year old corporate climber working in the finance department of the pension fund at Barclays Bank. Mbau's father Menzi Mcunu 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. Her grandmother would virtually raise her.

Mbau’s grandparents were very Western in the way they dressed and saw the world. Mbau said “Gladys (her grandmother) would can 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. The founder of the school had immigrated to South Africa from England and no hang-ups about racial mixing. Surrounded by blondes and brunettes with piercing blue eyes at her crèche, Mbau noticed there was something different about her.

In August 2012, Mbau released her biography “Bitch, Please! I’m Khanyi Mbau” written by the journalist Lesley Mofokeng. Late 2014, Mbau participated in SABC3’s season 7 of Strictly Come Dancing.

Television career

In 2004 she replaced actress Lindiwe Chibi in the role of Doobsie on Muvhango, after Chibi was shot in the face 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, 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 SABC1 mini-series After 9.

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

In 2013 she featured in the docu-reality television series Reality Check, on E.tv. Also she began hosting her own talk show on the OpenView HD channel eKasi+, Katch It With Khanyi. The show was renewed for a second season late 2014. The talk show reached number one in audience share for talk shows, exceeding the share of SABC2'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. During the talk show's second season, it was nominated for the South African Film and Television Awards 2015.

In 2014, Mbau featured in the seventh season of Strictly Come Dancing South Africa. On week 7 Mbau and partner, Quintus Jansen, failed to earn enough votes to remain in the dancing competition – as a result she was eliminated. The initial controversy was on the social media as super fans of Mbau expressed their disappointment and questioned the integrity of the voting process.