The first temptation is to avoid pronouncing the last name of Presley loudly when reading this post, should in case you do, you would be forgiven if you’re not from the North Province of South Africa. Presley Chweneyagae made global news when he won an Oscar Award from his tiny neighborhood in South Africa. What is the actor up to these days? Here is everything you need to know about him.
Presley Chweneyagae: Age and early Life
Presley Chweneyagae was born in Soweto, Transvaal, South Africa in 1984. His mother Agnes Keagile named him after her favorite singer. As a child, he nursed the dream of becoming a movie star and it was not the type of dream a snooze button can delay, he started working towards a movie career very early in his life.
Elvis Presley studied at Tshwane University of Technology, during his undergraduate days, he would attend auditions hoping one day to land a role that will launch him into the entertainment world fully.
Fortunately for him, he started appearing in adverts before he was selected to play the role of Tsotsi in the movie “Tsotsi” which earned him global recognition.
Presley Chweneyagae is 35 years old.
Presley Chweneyagae: Career
Presley made his film debut in 2005 when he starred in the film “Tsotsi”. The film is an adaptation of the novel Tsotsi, by Athol Fugard. Presley played the role of Tsotsi, a young street thug who steals a car only to discover a baby in the back seat. The film won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006.
Following his role, he won Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role at the Black Movie Awards 2006 beating the likes of Denzil Washington (Inside Man), Cuba Gooding Junior (Shadowboxer) and Tyrese Gibson (Waist Deep) who were also nominated. Presley also won Best Actor at the Bangkok International Film Festival 2006.
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No doubt he was enjoying global success in a debut movie, and there were temptations from all corners of the earth to leave South Africa, one of these temptations came from Hollywood, but Presley stayed rooted in South Africa stating that he fears what may befall him in the acting industry of another country. “My life obviously changed after we won the Oscar. I got calls from around the world and there was a lot of interest. I would send audition tapes across and sometimes hear back. I could have gone to LA, but without anything concrete, I didn’t want to rush off and then end up broke and homeless in LA. It happens all too often,” Presley said. Of course, he was right as breaking into Hollywood is not a walk in the park.
In 2007, he appeared in the film “More Than Just a Game”. This was followed by another big role in the film “State of Violence”, “Africa United” and “The Gentleman”.
In 2018, Presley starred in the film “The River 1 Magic”. No matter how many films he has appeared, his most iconic role on TV is Tsotsi which he also admitted publicly. The actor has disclosed that one day he would play a comedy role and fans are waiting.
Presley Chweneyagae: Net worth, marriage, other facts
Presley Chweneyagae is not married but there was a woman in his life sometime, who even had his baby. The actor was dragged to court by his ex-girlfriend in 2007 for failing to pay child maintenance, there reports that alleged that the actor paid only two payments of R500 before he stopped making payments.
Currently, the actor might be single as it is not clear if he is seeing anyone at the moment.
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The actor is a millionaire in dollars. Several internet sources put his net worth to be around 1.5 million dollars. He would have been richer if he made that LA Career move or he would have ended up homeless in the streets of LA as he envisioned. Presley has more time to make more movies and more money.
In 2007, he was arrested for driving with a fake driver’s license and was fined R5000. Perhaps he brought his Tsotsi role into real life. Visiting the Scandinavian countries is in the actor’s bucket list and he won’t mind inviting Robert Gumede and Patrice Motsepe, for dinner with his foundation’s banking details on the plate.
Image source: Youtube
