Aaron Arthur Ferguson (30 April 197430 July 2021), professionally known as Shona Ferguson, was a Motswana actor based in South Africa, executive producer and co-founder of

Ferguson Films Ferguson may refer to: Places Canada *Ferguson Avenue (Hamilton, Ontario) *Ferguson, British Columbia *Mount Ferguson (Ontario), a mountain in Temagami, Ontario United States *Ferguson, a meteorite fall in North Carolina *Ferguson, Arkansas * F ...

, alongside his wife,

Connie Ferguson Constance Ferguson (née Masilo; born 10 June 1970) is a South African based Botswana actress, filmmaker, producer and businesswoman. She is best known for her role as "Karabo Moroka" on South Africa's most popular soap opera, '' Generations''. ...

Early career

Ferguson started his journey into the world of entertainment in

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

as a club DJ at The Palace Hotel Night Club in 1992. After moving back to

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

his focus shifted to the corporate world and he ended up in the IT business. Having started as a salesman, he worked his way up to become a respected businessman where he won multiple achievement awards, including Top Sales Manager Award 1998–99 while working at EDUTECH.

Acting career

Ferguson's first major acting role was as Dr Leabua in the South African

Venda language Venda or Tshivenda is a Bantu language and an official language of South Africa. It is mainly spoken by the Venda people in the northern part of South Africa's Limpopo province, as well as by some Lemba people in South Africa. The Venda lan ...

soap opera ''

Muvhango ''Muvhango'' is a South African television soap opera, created by Duma Ndlovu. It is broadcast on the public TV channel SABC 2, and has an average of 4 million daily viewers. The first episode was aired on 7 April 1997. It was the first Tshive ...

''. He left the show in March 2007. He then starred as Itumeleng from 2011 to 2013 on ''The Wild'', a

M-Net M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

soap opera. He, along with wife

, established Ferguson Films and both starred on their film production's first series '' Rockville''. He starred as JB from 2013 to its final episode in 2016. He also starred on 2014's ''The Gift'', a Ferguson Films series, and starred as Jerry Maake on ''

The Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

'', also a Ferguson Films series that started in 2016. His other TV appearances include '' Isidingo: The Need'' as Tyson and '' Scandal!'' as Alex.

Ferguson Films

In 2010, he started Ferguson Films with wife and actress, Connie Ferguson. Their productions included '' Rockville'', ''iGazi'', ''The Gift'', ''The Throne'', ''The Herd'', ''

'', ''The River'' and ''The Imposter''. In 2020, they produced a

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

six-part series called ''Kings of Joburg''.

Movies

Ferguson was cast in the 2010 film ''Mrs. Mandela''.

Personal life

Ferguson met actress Connie Masilo on 31 July 2001. They married in November of that year.

Awards and nominations

He received the Golden Horn Award for Best Actor in a TV Soap and Golden Horn Award for Best Achievement by a Lead Actor in a Made for TV Movie.

Death

On 26 June 2021, Ferguson was admitted to Pinehaven Hospital with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. With his condition getting worse, he was airlifted towards the mid-days of July to

Milpark Hospital The Milpark Hospital is a private hospital in western Parktown, Johannesburg, in the area known as Milpark, and owned by Netcare Limited. It has a level 1 accredited trauma unit, and cardiology and cardio-thoracic services. It has 346 beds, of ...

in Johannesburg, where he died on 30 July 2021, aged 47. He was buried at the Fourways Memorial Park, after a private funeral. A memorial service was held two days later, where the attendance was limited to 50 due to COVID-19 lockdown regulations.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Shona 1974 births 2021 deaths Tswana people South African male actors People from Gaborone Botswana emigrants to South Africa South African people of Botswana descent Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa