Mpho Osei Tutu

Mpho Osei-Tutu was born in Paris to a Mosotho mother and Ghanaian father and has lived in Lesotho, France, England, Togo and Ghana. In 1992 his family settled in South Africa, where he presently works as an actor, voice artist, screenwriter, director and producer. Osei-Tutu's love of drama began at the tender age of eight. He holds a B. A. (Hons) in Dramatic Art from Wits University, where he majored in Performance, Television and Screenwriting, and is now a familiar actor on the South African stage and screen.

On-stage acting roles include The Man in Zakes Mda's The Mother Of All Eating, Ramabanquo in Pieter-Dirk Uys' MacBeki, Tumi in Paul Slabolepsky's For Your Ears Only, Winston in the Fugard classic The Island - with which he has toured the UK, the US and Greece, multiple characters in his self-penned Convincing Carlos - a recipient of an inaugural Standard Bank Ovation Award in 2010, and La Fleche in Sylvaine Strike's The Miser - Best Play at the 2013 Naledi Theatre Awards.

A burgeoning independent filmmaker, Osei-Tutu co-produced the short film Joburg (officially selected for several International festivals including Sundance in 2010) and Getting it On (which won Best Overall Short Cut at the Multi Choice VUKA! Awards in 2006). His company, What Not Entertainment in association with Burnt Onion Productions produced 2 seasons of the sitcom Kota Life Crisis for Mzansi Magic.

Osei-Tutu served on the board of The South African Guild of Actors (SAGA) from 2012-2014 and is an organizer of the Repertory Amateur Players Society (RAPS) One Act Plays Festival - the longest running and most prestigious high school's drama festival in South Africa. Osei-Tutu recently became a director in his family businesses Summat Training Institute and St. Aquinas College, and gives regular motivational talks to its grade 8-12 students.

On-screen, acting roles include Gabriel in the popular sitcom Kota Life Crisis, Mobutu in the prime-time SABC 3 series High Rollers, Niko in the Mzansi Magic prime-time sitcom Samsokolo - for which he was nominated for Best Actor in TV Comedy at the 2014 SAFTAs, Desmond in the International Emmy Nominated Home Affairs and Bomba in the internationally acclaimed feature film A Million Colors - for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film at the 2013 SAFTAs. Osei-Tutu is one of South Africa's most sought after voice artists. His voice can be heard in several voice-overs, book readings and radio plays, notably as the IVR voice of Vodacom.

Osei-Tutu is also a screenwriter and has penned episodes of prime-time series Ses Top La, Tempy Pushas, My Perfect Family (nominated for Best Writing in a TV Comedy at 2014 SAFTAs), Rhythm City (Winner of Best Writing in a TV Soap at the SAFTAs in 2009), The Lab, Hopeville (nominated for an International Emmy Award in 2010) and A Place Called Home. He was also on the directing teams of the popular Zone 14, Ga Re Dumele 4 and Kota Life Crisis (which he co-created).