Tembinkosi Ngcukana: The internet’s boyfriend

It’s flattering to be crowned “the internet’s boyfriend”, but it quickly becomes unsettling when you’re propositioned on the street while minding your business — let alone in front of the fan’s boyfriend. Breakout star Tembinkosi Ngcukana has had many bizarre fan encounters following the success of Gqeberha: The Empire. His career turn as dreamboat Thulani Mxenge on the show has TV viewers from all corners of Mzansi ready to “risk it all”.   

Since the daily drama premiered in January, the 34-year-old actor’s chances of being recognised in public have skyrocketed. So much so that, recently, when he was walking to his apartment from the gym (that heartthrob physique doesn’t come easily), he was spotted by a couple in a car.

The driver introduced himself and then his girlfriend, Ngcukana’s biggest fan, in the passenger seat. At first the woman was so star-struck she couldn’t utter a word, but she quickly warmed up and suddenly was acting like a lovesick puppy. Upping the ante, she made her move in front of her boyfriend. Ngcukana was gobsmacked, creeped out, and left shaken at the thought of what the boyfriend (whose face dropped, he notes) might do next. He quickly apologised and got out of there.  

“The conversation started getting flirty, so I realised I needed to wrap it up. I jokingly asked where they were heading, to lighten up the mood. Then she was like, ‘I wish I was going with you,’ in front of the guy and looking me straight in the eye. He looked at me and you could see he was calculating,” Ngcukana recounts.  

While that was his most awkward fan encounter in person, Ngcukana blushes when admitting his mentions on social media are more lit. “I get a lot of weird requests, most of them sexual. I have had girls...” — there is a pause, and then, struggling to find the right words, he uses hand gestures — “… offer stuff, men and women offer stuff,” he bursts out laughing. “I mean, I’m flattered… I’m at that stage where I realise it has nothing to do with me, but more to do with the character Thulani.”  

It’s clear that Ngcukana is not complaining about his newfound fame — he’s basking in the glory. Before being cast in the Mzansi Magic telenovela, he had knocked on so many doors his knuckles were bleeding. “Everything that’s happened since the show debuted in January has shocked me. It has taken me a while to catch up. I did manifest it; I’ve been trying to get my breakthrough,” he says.

Ngcukana was born in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape but was raised in the Cape Town township Langa by his late mother, who worked as a nurse. He has one older brother on his mother’s side and a younger paternal sister. He’s had an “on-and-off relationship” with his father.  

“My dad is from a village and my mom wasn’t comfortable with her son being raised in that setting. So, they clashed a lot. I grew up alone; I got to know my siblings later,” Ngcukana says. “My dad watches the show and it’s so awkward talking about it on the phone. The subject matter of the show is too much for him, he’s very private and strict. He’s very proud, though. We don’t have the most perfect relationship, but we have special moments.”  

After high school, he held down various small jobs, working in a call centre and hardware stores and even selling newspapers on the street. In 2016, in pursuit of a life in showbiz, he relocated to Pretoria, living with his aunt. At the time he was an aspirant DJ, which failed to take off. “I have hustled, someday I will tell people some of things I’ve done to survive,” Ngcukana says. “I also had a really bad experience in music and for a number of years I stayed far away from the entertainment industry.”

Ngcukana’s big acting break finally came late last year, resulting in his moving to Gqeberha, where the show starring Zikhona Sodlaka, Zandile Msutwana, Mbulelo Grootboom, and Phila Madlingozi is filmed. But his road to the top has been filled with hardship and adversity. He first realised that acting was the right career path after an open audition for MTV Shuga at Bassline in Newtown, Joburg.  

“I had zero focus at the time. The night before I went out drinking and I came back home at 3am. I woke up around 5am, went to the audition, and stood in line. By the time they saw me I was sobering up and I auditioned,” he remembers. “Out of the 2 000 who auditioned, I was shortlisted to, like, the final 10. That made me realise, ‘Imagine if I took it seriously.’”  

He then started honing his craft; first working with an acting coach, then getting a modelling and later an acting agent. But the years that followed came with tiresome auditions that wore him out. He was cast in bit parts and dedicated most of his time to theatre work. One big role he missed out on was that of King Dingiswayo in Shaka ILembe, which went to Adulting and The River actor Thembinkosi Mthembu. He had to settle for a small role in the upcoming Mzansi Magic series, set to debut on June 18. “I have lost out on a lot of roles to familiar faces,” Ngcukana observes.  

Now that he has found his entry, he wants to continue to perfect his acting and leave a legacy of brilliant performances.   

“I want to push the quality of the stories on local television. I want to push the quality of performances. These days, some people get cast for having a large following on Instagram. I would like to leave a legacy similar to that of Shona Ferguson. He showed Black entertainers that they can create and own stories,” he says.