Shoki Mokgapa (17 August 1984 – 26 September 2018) was a South African actress. She was best known for her role as Rachel in the film ''Sink''.

Early life

Mokgapa was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. She had a brother Tshepiso and a stepsister Ntsako Mokadikwa. She spent her early childhood in

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

before her family moved to Johannesburg's northern

suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

. Fluent in English and

SeSotho Sotho () or Sesotho () or Southern Sotho is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho–Tswana ("S.30") group, spoken primarily by the Basotho in Lesotho, where it is the national and official language; South Africa (particularly the Free Sta ...

, Mokgapa attended Michael Mount Waldorf School and took

A Levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

at the British International College. She pursued a

Bachelor of Communications A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six y ...

before going on to train at the Johannesburg campus of

AFDA AFDA is a private Higher Education institution that offers courses in film, television, performance, business innovation and technology, radio and podcasting. It has campuses located in Auckland Park, Johannesburg; Observatory, Cape Town; Dur ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in Performing Arts.

Career

In 2008, Mokgapa made her television debut in the second season of the SABC3 drama series ''The Lab''. In the series, she played the role of Tumi, the Pearl Lusipho's personal assistant, for three seasons. Mokgapa was "instrumental" in helping to co-found the POPArt Theatre at the Maboneng Precinct, which opened its doors in 2011. On British television, Mokgapa appeared in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

series '' Wild at Heart'' in 2008 and then in the BBC drama ''Silent Witness'' in 2010. Meanwhile, she appeared in Hollywood films such as ''Retribution'' (2011) and ''Dredd'' (2012). In 2013, she appeared in the second season of the SABC1 drama ''Intersexions'' as Gadima. That same year, she made a minor role in the biographical film '' Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom''. In 2015, she gained prominence through her role as Disebo in the second season of the e.tv soap opera ''Ashes to Ashes''. In 2016, she appeared in the Sri Lankan feature film ''A Love Like This'' directed by

Chandran Rutnam Chandran Rutnam is a Sri Lankan filmmaker and entrepreneur. Rutnam has hosted numerous Hollywood films for their location shoots in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. He was the Line Producer/Production Supervisor on several international productions incl ...

which was shot in the Seychelles. In 2017, Mokgapa played Rachel Nyaga in the Afrikaans-language film ''Sink''. For her performance, she won Best Actress in a Feature Film category at the 11th Annual

South African Film and Television Awards South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

(SAFTAs). Then in 2018, she won the Best Actress Award at the kykNET Silwerskermfees Festival for the same role, becoming the first non-Afrikaans speaking actress to win the award. In mid 2018, she appeared in the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

miniseries ''

The Looming Tower ''The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11'' is a 2006 non-fiction book by Lawrence Wright, a journalist for ''The New Yorker''. Wright examines the origins of the militant organization Al-Qaeda, the background for various terrorist attac ...

''. She made her final film appearance in Jahmil X.T. Qubeka's '' Sew the Winter to My Skin'', South Africa's 2019 submission in the Oscars' foreign film category.

Death

Mokgapa suffered from clinical depression and anxiety for a long time. She committed suicide on 25 September 2018 in Johannesburg at the age of 34. A memorial event was held on 2 October 2018 at the Market Theatre.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Shoki Mokgapa
at TVSA {{DEFAULTSORT:Mokgapa, Shoki 1984 births 2018 deaths 21st-century South African actresses Actresses from Johannesburg Actors from Soweto South African film actresses South African television actresses South African Sotho people Suicides in South Africa