Lebogang Mashile Biography

Lebogang Mashile (July 2, 1979) is a South African actor, writer and performance poet.

The daughter of exiled South African parents, she was born in the United States and returned to South Africa in the mid-1990s after the end of apartheid. She began the study of law and international relations at the University of the Witwatersrand but became more interested in the arts. With Myesha Jenkins, Ntsiki Mazwai and Napo Masheane, she founded the poetry group Feela Sistah.

She appeared in the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda and has performed in a number of theatre productions, including Threads which combined dance, music and poetry. Mashile also recorded a live performance album incorporating music and poetry titled Lebo Mashile Live. She co-produced and hosted the documentary program L’Attitude on SABC 1 and hosted a game show Drawing the line on SABC 2.

In 2005, she published her first poetry collection In a ribbon of rhythm, for which she received the Noma Award in 2006. Mashile was named one of South Africa's Awesome Women of 2005 by Cosmopolitan and one of the Top 100 youth in South Africa by the Mail & Guardian in 2006 and 2007.