Tongayi Chirisa

Tongayi Chirisa
Born	Tongayi Arnold Chirisa (1981-08-08) August 8, 1981 (age 44) Harare, Zimbabwe
Nationality	Zimbabwean
Alma mater	The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance
Occupation(s)	Actor, singer, poet
Years active	2002–present
Known for	Acting
Website	www.tongayichirisa.com [1]

Tongayi Arnold Chirisa is a Zimbabwean actor and singer known for playing Man Friday on NBC's Crusoe television series, Father Nicholas on The Jim Gaffigan Show , Hekule on Leon Schuster's Mr. Bones 2: Back from the Past , and Cheetor in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts .

Education

Chirisa attended Lomagundi College. ^[2] He also studied for a Bachelor of Arts in Live Performance at AFDA, The School for the Creative Economy. ^[3]

Acting career

He played the part of "Detective Trevor Davies" in the popular Zimbabwean television series Studio 263. He also appeared in numerous feature films, the most well known being Tanyaradzwa in 2004, for which he won the Best Actor for Film and Television Award. ^{[4] [ better source needed ]} He has also featured in music videos and is a singer. He also starred in a serial radio drama Mopani Junction that was taken off air at the height of political turmoil in Zimbabwe.^{[ citation needed ]} He has been nominated and won many NAMA Awards over the last five years. He recently played the lead in the comedy feature film Mr Bones 2: Back from the Past . He made a dramatic appearance in the mini-series Rough directed by British director, Andy Wilson, appeared in an international feature film Skin, directed by Anthony Fabian and co-starring Sam Neill, and played a lead in a local drama series Redemption for SABC 1. He played Man Friday on the NBC international television series Crusoe , based on the classic story Robinson Crusoe . ^[5] He also appeared in Sleepy Hollow based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. He played Father Nicholas on The Jim Gaffigan Show (2017). ^[6] He played the Maximal Cheetor in the film Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. (2023) ^[7]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Tanyaradzwa
2008	Ace of Hearts	Tebsane Masa	Short
2008	Zimbabwe	Charles
2008	Skin	Township Priest
2008	Mr. Bones 2: Back from the Past	Hekule
2009	Gargoyle	Themba	Short
2011	Geezas	Sammy the Mouth
2013	Stand By	Dee	Short
2014	Whipping Boy	Olly 'Napalm' Harris	Short
2016	Happiness Is a Four-letter Word	Thomas
2017	The Zim	William Zimunya	Short
2020	Palm Springs	Jerry Schlieffen
2020	Antebellum	Eli Stokes/Professor
2022	Next Exit	Father Jack
2023	Transformers: Rise of the Beasts	Cheetor (voice)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002-2004	Studio 263	Detective Trevor Davis	Soap Opera
2008–2009	Crusoe	Friday	Main role
2009	Diamonds	Oba Sewele	TV film
2010	Mrs Mandela	Arguing husband	TV film
2010	Barack Obama's Cousin	Barack Obama's Cousin	TV miniseries
2011	NCIS: Los Angeles	Interrogator	Episode: "Betrayal"
2012	American Horror Story: Asylum	Miles	Episode: "Dark Cousin"
2012	H+: The Digital Series	African Soldier	2 episodes
2013	Sleepy Hollow	Arthur Bernard	Episode: "The Sin Eater"
2013	Gaffigan	Father Nicholas Ngungumbane	TV film
2015	Whitney	Gary Houston	TV film
2015–16	The Jim Gaffigan Show	Father Nicholas	Main role
2016	Mars Project	Neil Cormack	TV film
2017–2019	iZombie	Justin Bell	Recurring role (season 3), guest (seasons 4–5)
2018	Hawaii Five-0	Don	Episode: "Kopi Wale No I Ka I'a A 'Eu No Ka Ilo"
2018	The Guest Book	Kwame	Episode: "2.5"
2020	The Good Doctor	Kerryś Husband	Guest (season 3 episode 11)
2021	Another Life	Richard Ncube	Recurring role (season 2)
2022	Women of the Movement	Medgar Evers	4 episodes
2023–present	Mayfair Witches	Ciprien Grieve	Main role

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2025	Assassin's Creed Shadows	Yasuke (voice)	[8]

References

1. https://tongayichirisa.com/ ^{[ dead link ]}
2. "Chirisa traces journey to Hollywood". Zim News Blog. 2 August 2015. Archived from the original on 23 May 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2017. I proceeded to 'A' Level (Lomagundi College)
3. Quinn, Nicola (6 July 2015). "Chirisa gains Hollywood fame". NewsDay . Retrieved 18 February 2018.
4. "Tanyaradzwa" – via www.imdb.com.
5. "Crusoe". www.nbc.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2008.
6. "Father Nicholas Ngugumbane/Tongayi Charisa". TVLand. Archived from the original on 30 April 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
7. "Transformers on Instagram: "Maximals, Maximize 👊 Welcoming the voice of Cheetor, @tongayichirisa, to the pack. #Transformers #RiseOfTheBeasts"". Instagram. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
8. ZiFM Stereo [@ZiFMStereo] (16 May 2024). "American based Zimbabwean actor Tongayi Chirisa will feature in the upcoming Assassin's Creed:Shadows game where he voices the character Yasuke" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 June 2024– via Twitter.

External links

• Tongai Arnold Chirisa at IMDb