Bonko Khoza flexes his acting muscle with new serial killer role on thriller series, Red Ink

Two weeks after the birth of his five-month-old baby girl,  Amahuboamahle, actor Bonko Khoza had to live in the mind of a diabolical psychopath, which turned out to be one of the most intriguing experiences for him.

Khoza is popularly known for his bad-boy taxi-driving role as Mqhele Zulu on Showmax’s hit series, The Wife, and his breakout role as Jabz in Necktie Youth back in 2015.

In recent years, the 32-year-old has steadily solidified his reputation as a strong emerging force on local and international screens. 

“Since the last time we spoke [earlier last year], I’ve been hard at work sowing a lot of seeds,” Khoza tells Sowetan S Mag. “I’ve been able to do a lot of work that I’m proud of and people will see most of it this year.”  

The effervescent actor is set to star in the leading role of a serial killer named Napoleon Dingiswayo on Showmax’s new thriller series, Red Ink, which premieres next month.  

“Assuming the role of Napoleon was quite challenging. Mqhele is crazy and over the top, whereas Napoleon is a classic psychopath. I believe I’m pretty strong in portraying characters but this role was kind of tough,” shares the actor, who had to change his diet for his prison scenes on the show. 

“My daughter was born in August, and two weeks after her birth, I had to take up this role. For the following two months, I had to act out a role that was a woman killer and rapist, which was quite a tricky experience to balance between reality and role-playing.

“Because I always give out so much of myself when acting, I had to make sure I do justice in embodying and humanising this character to my uttermost ability.” 

Assuming a new television role isn’t the only interesting aspect in the actor’s life – his joys around fatherhood have also taken centre stage as one of his best life experiences. 

Khoza and his wife Lesego welcomed their first child, a baby girl five months ago. Since then, the doting father explains that he can’t help but gush over the “little being who looks just like her mother”.  

“Fatherhood so far has been beautiful. Being a girl-dad has been a tricky experience… it’s like the love you have for a child is more feminine and sensitive. I always have to remember that I’m raising a young girl who’ll be a woman one day,” he said.

“I can imagine if my child was a boy, I’d pick him up by the arm and wrestle him about. I’d slightly be less sensitive to him because I’d be raising a man… but having a girl child has revealed sides to me I never thought were there. It also helps that my wife is gentle and loving to her, which also, in turn, teaches me how to handle a growing girl.”