How Tambo made Orlando Jones an honorary citizen
SOUTH Africans on the street have mistaken him for Tyler James Williams, Isaiah Washington and even Mos Def — but US actor Orlando Jones is taking it all in his stride.
The 48-year-old stand-up comedian and film and TV actor has starred in sitcoms such as Everybody Hates Chris, The Bernie Mac Show and Girlfriends. On Thursday night he made an appearance on the Comedy Central Battle Roast filming, as guest judge alongside sushi king Kenny Kunene and comedian David Kau.
Although he arrived late for the event at Parker’s Comedy Club at Montecasino, Jones soon had the crowd giggling.
“My momma always said white people think black people look alike, but I never thought this would be the case in South Africa too,” he laughed.
“I have come across people who think I am the grown-up version of Tyler. No, I am not and no he is not my kid,” Jones said.
The comedian had just come from the set of BET Network’s six-hour mini-series Madiba, based on the life of former president Nelson Mandela. It is being produced and financed by Blue Ice Pictures and the company’s president Lance Samuels is the executive producer.
Hollywood star Laurence Fishburne has been cast as Mandela while Jones is set to play former ANC leader Oliver Tambo.
Based on two Mandela books, Conversations With Myself and Nelson Mandela by Himself, the project is now in its eighth week of shooting. It is directed by Kevin Hooks, who worked on Prison Break and Passenger 57, and is produced by UK-based Left Bank Pictures and Mandela’s grandson, Kweku Mandela. Kweku is the executive producer for local company Out of Africa.
Samuels said they were “extremely excited and honoured to be working with Fishburne on this important project”.
“I cannot imagine anyone better portraying such an iconic figure as Nelson Mandela. An actor of his stature and talent will help us bring this remarkable story to a wider audience.”
This is Jones’s fourth visit to the country since 1998 and he will leave on July 20.
He said playing the role of Tambo was a huge honour as he had “been following the history of South Africa from a very young age early in my days in college”.
“In college I was in the economic commission of the ANC as part of the Organisation of African Unity where we had to model exactly what the actual organisation was doing.
“To play the role of an incredible man like Oliver Tambo is an honour because he was part of a group of men who were humanitarians and believed things about the world that I wanted to believe, and so I became an honorary South African at that moment,” said Jones.
The mini-series is set to air next year, although dates could not be confirmed.
My momma always said white people think black people look alike, but I never thought this would be the case in South Africa too OFTEN MISTAKEN: Orlando Jones, part of the ‘Madiba’ cast