Winston Ntshona is a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 and actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

.

Born in Port Elizabeth, Ntshona worked alongside fellow South African Athol Fugard

Athol Fugard

Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...

 on several occasions and played a minor role in Richard Attenborough

Richard Attenborough

Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...

's acclaimed film Gandhi

Gandhi (film)

Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. They both...

.

Ntshona also played deposed President Julius Limbani, the subject of a rescue attempt in The Wild Geese

The Wild Geese

The Wild Geese is a British 1978 film about a group of mercenaries in Africa. It stars Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Hardy Krüger...

(1977). Limbani is based on Moise Tshombe

Moise Tshombe

Moïse Kapenda Tshombe was a Congolese politician.- Biography :He was the son of a successful Congolese businessman and was born in Musumba, Congo. He received his education from an American missionary school and later trained as an accountant...

.

With Fugard and John Kani

John Kani

Bonsile John Kani is a South African actor, director and playwright.He was born in New Brighton, South Africa.Kani joined The Serpent Players in Port Elizabeth in 1965 and helped to create many plays that went unpublished but were performed to a resounding reception.These...

, Ntshona wrote the 1973 play The Island

The Island (play)

The Island is a play by Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona.The apartheid-era drama, inspired by a true story, is set in an unnamed prison clearly based on South Africa's notorious Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held for twenty-seven years...

, in which he and Kani starred in a number of major international productions over the next thirty years. He and Kani were co-winners of the Tony Award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 for Best Actor in a Play for their performance in both The Island and Sizwe Banzi is Dead

Sizwe Banzi is Dead

Sizwe Banzi Is Dead is a play by Athol Fugard, written collaboratively with two South African actors, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona, both of whom appeared in the original production. Its world première occurred on October 8, 1972 at the Space Theatre, Cape Town, South Africa...

, which he also co-wrote.

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