Khanyi Mbau

Khanyi Mbau
Mbau at the Durban July 2016.
Born	Khanyisile Mbau (1985-10-15) 15 October 1985 Soweto, South Africa
Residence	Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa
Other names	Queen of Bling, Queen of Patwa
Occupation	Television Personality Actress Socialite Model
Years active	2004 – present
Television	The Weekend Edition
Website	mykhanyimbau.com

Khanyisile Mbau (born October 15, 1985) known professionally as Khanyi Mbau is a South African television host, actress and radio personality.^[1] 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 was the host of Katch It With Khanyi which ended after its third season.^[2][3] She is now the host of The Weekend Edition on SABC 3 and Whose Show Is It Anyway on Metro FM.

Early life

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^[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. 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.^[5]

In August 2012, Mbau released her biography^[6] “Bitch, Please! I’m Khanyi Mbau”^[7] written by the journalist Lesley Mofokeng. Late 2014, Mbau participated in SABC3’s season 7 of Strictly Come Dancing.^[8][9]

Career

In 2004 she replaced actress Lindiwe Chibi in the role of Doobsie on Muvhango,^[10] 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.^[11]

In 2006 Mbau joined the SABC 1 hit drama series, Mzansi,^[12] 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.^[13]

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.^[14]

In 2013 she featured in the docu-reality television series Reality Check, on E.tv.^[15] 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,^[16] exceeding the share of SABC2's Motswako.^[17]

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.^[17] During the talk show's second season, it was nominated for the South African Film and Television Awards 2015.^[18]

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.^[8]

July 2015, MTV Africa launched lip sync battles. Khanyi Mbau and Amanda Du-Pont where some of Mzansi's A-Listers to perform. Mbau of course took the award home.^[19]

In November 2015, Mbau was nominated for the 'Best Instagram Account' in the Channel24 Online Awards which honoured local musicians, stars and public figures who have a powerful and influential online presence.^[20]

Mbau's first feature film, Happiness is a Four-Letter Word premiered on February 19 2016^[21] . She played the role of Zaza, a trophy wife to Bheki (Simo Magwaza) and mother of two who happens to own a shoe store. The film premiered with box office smashing numbers and continued with its amazing run with gross box office receipts over R7million in its third week on the cinema circuit.^[22]

In July 2016, Mbau landed a new talk show on SABC 3 called 'The Weekend Edition' alongside radio and television host Phat Joe. The duo hosts the lifestyle show morning weekends, filmed in Cape Town.^[23] Mbau also landed a radio show on Metro FM as the host of 'Whose show is it anyway' alongside Somizi and Ntombi Ngcobo which premiered nationally July 18th 2016.^[24]

In October 2016, the Johannesburg Film Festival named their top 10 South African Actresses in film in a non chronological order and Mbau happened to be one of them following the success of Happiness Is a Four-letter Word.^[25]

Filmography

Movie roles

• Hear Me Move (2015)
• Happiness is a Four-letter Word (2016)^[26]

Television roles

Discography

Mbau released a self-titled debut album Khanyi Mbau on May 21, 2010.^[45] It was released under CCP Record Company, a division of EMI Music South Africa.

• Khanyi Mbau (2010)^[45]
• Shake (Khanyi Mbau song) (2016)^[46]

On the 20th of April 2016, Mbau dropped an exlcusive freestyle titled *Play Play* through Times Live. Mbau was last in the music business 6 years ago and she thinks its time she focuses on her craft.^[47]

Awards and nominations

External links

• Official Website
• Khanyi Mbau at the Internet Movie Database

References

LCCN 2012-526416