Leleti was born in 1970 at Kwa Mashu Township in the North of Durban. Growing up in the poverty of township life, she was initiated into a youth backyard dance group called Amajika mentored by Tu Nokwe. In 1985, she auditioned for Mbongeni Ngema’s upcoming new musical, which was to became the international blockbuster “Sarafina!” Ngema wrote the lead character of Sarafina for her. Leleti enchanted audiences in South Africa and on Broadway, where she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress. “Sarafina!” stayed for two years on Broadway before embarking on a worldwide tour. In 1987 she received an NAACP Image Award for Best Stage Actress.

In 1991, together with Whoopi Goldberg, Khumalo starred in Darrell James Roodt’s film version of “Sarafina!” which was distributed worldwide, and became the biggest film production to be released in the African continent. Again she was nominated for the film Image Award together with Angela Bassett, Whoopi Goldberg and Janet Jackson.

In 1993, Khumalo released her first album, “Leleti and the Sarafina,” and co-starred in Ngema’s international hit musical “Magic at 4 AM” which was dedicated to the legend of
Muhammed Ali. She then starred in Ngema’s musical “Mama” (1996), which toured Europe and Australia. In 1997, she also starred in Ngema’s “Sarafina 2.”

Khumalo moved into dramatic acting when she starred in the play “Koze Kuse,” written by Selo Make Kancube. She then played a role in Darrell James Roodt’s film “Cry, the Beloved
Country” (1995) of Alan Paton’s novel, produced by Anant Singh and starring Richard Harris and James Earl Jones. She was also featured on the TV series “The African Skies,” and appeared in a number of TV commercials.

Leleti next had another success on stage with “The Zulu” (1999) written and directed by Mbongeni Ngema, about King Cetshwayo and the Battle of Isandlwane in the Anglo Zulu War. In 2000 she was awarded an acting diploma by the Mbongeni Ngema Academy of Performance Excellence. Khumalo next starred in 2003 at the musical extravaganza “Stimela Sase Zola” at the African Bank Market Theatre in Johannesburg in 2003.

Khumalo was the lead in South Africa’s first-ever Oscar nominated film, “Yesterday” which was nominated in the Best Foreign Language film category in 2005. The film also won the
prestigious Peabody Award in 2006 and received an Emmy nomination in the same year.

Khumalo was also featured in the Oscar Nominated film, “Hotel Rwanda,” with Don Cheadle and Nick Nolte. She starred in the popular South African soap operas, “Generations” and “Uzalo” and in the feature films “Winnie Mandela”, “Cry of Love” and “Free State”.

In 2018 she made her debut as Executive Producer of the daily television drama, “Imbewu: The Seed” in which she played the lead character, MaZulu for five years on the South African free-to-air television channel, e.tv.

Whoopi Goldberg moves effortlessly between comedy, television and feature films, first made her mark with the movie-going public as Celie in Steven Spielberg’s “The Color Purple” (1985) for which she earned an Academy Award nomination. She was born November 13, 1955 in the Chelsea projects of Manhattan. At the precocious age of eight, Caryn Elaine Johnson — her real name — was performing with the Children’s Program at the Hudson Guild Community Center and the Helena Rubinstein Children’s Theatre.

Whoopi joined the fledgling San Diego Repertory Theatre in 1974 and appeared in productions of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Marsha Norman’s Getting Out. Most importantly, her comedic skills were honed with an improv group called Spontaneous Combustion, where she paired up with Don Victor to form the comedy duo, “Victor and Goldberg.” While in San Diego, she also adopted her unique stage name, primarily because of a reputation for flatulence, she wanted to call herself “Whoopi Cushion” or “Whoopi Cushone.”

Her mother was of the opinion that no one would take her seriously as an actress, but she insisted on keeping the “Whoopi” part and her mother suggested it sounded good with “Goldberg,” so she settled on “Whoopi Goldberg.” Whoopi then joined the Blake Street Hawkeyes Theatre in Berkeley and partnered with David Schein. She developed her distinctive character monologues and created The Spook Show, which first played San Francisco and then toured the United States and Europe.

While performing Spook Show at the Dance Theatre Workshop in New York (1983), she was discovered by director Mike Nichols, who mounted her breakthrough solo Broadway production in 1984. A one-woman show of original material, written and created by Whoopi, Whoopi opened at the Lyceum Theatre to thunderous critical acclaim. Hungry audiences unable to feast on the New York show were treated to the HBO special, Whoopi Goldberg: Direct From Broadway. The record album of her Broadway show won a Grammy Award as Best Comedy Recording of the Year in 1985.

Whoopi briefly returned to San Francisco to star as the legendary Moms Mabley in Moms, a one-woman show which she also co-wrote, based on the late comedienne’s original material. The next year, she made a dazzling dramatic debut in Steven Spielberg’s film version of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, a performance that earned her the Best Actress Golden Globe, an Academy Award nomination, and the NAACP’s Image Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture.

She has since appeared in a steady stream of popular motion pictures, including Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Fatal Beauty (a second NAACP Image Award), Clara’s Heart, Ghost, for which she took home a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, a Golden Globe, a third Image Award, the British Academy Award, an American Comedy Award and the Saturn Award (presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films). The Long Walk Home (a fourth Image Award), Soapdish, The Player, Sister Act which garnered her yet another Golden Globe Award nomination, the NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture and the Image Award for Motion Picture of the Year, Sarafina, Made in America and Corrina, Corrina.

Whoopi still had time for TV’s Moonlighting for which she received an Emmy Award nomination as Best Guest Performer in a Dramatic Series in 1986. Whoopi starred with Jean Stapleton in CBS’ Bagdad Cafe. For five television seasons, she also managed to navigate her way across the universe as Guinan, on the hit syndicated series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, for which she was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Whoopi also appeared in the CBS Schoolbreak Special, “My Past Is My Own,” for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award, and she starred in the CBS telefilm, Kiss Shot.

In 1991, Whoopi guest starred on the NBC series, A Different World, which resulted in another nomination for a Prime Time Emmy Award, this time as Best Guest Actress on a Comedy Series. She also starred in “Dead Wait,” an episode of HBO’s horror anthology series, Tales from the Crypt. In 1992, Whoopi made her debut as a talk show host with “The Whoopi Goldberg Show,” her own syndicated half-hour late night talk show.

In addition to the Oscar, a Grammy, two Golden Globe Awards, and multiple NAACP Image Awards, Whoopi has won a Tony for bringing Thoroughly Modern Millie to Broadway, along with the prestigious Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, six People’s Choice Awards and an unprecedented five Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards as Favorite Movie Actress. One can only wonder where she puts the many awards and honours which she has earned. Even with her hectic life, she found the time to write a children’s book, Alice, (1992) and her autobiography, Book (1997).

A champion for the homeless, children, human rights, substance abuse, gay rights, the battle against AIDS, and other worthwhile causes, Goldberg received the NAACP’s 1991 Entertainer of the Year and was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2003. In 1987, Whoopi, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams co-hosted HBO’s now-historic Comic Relief benefit for the nation’s homeless. Following the equally successful Comic Relief II, the three have hosted Comic Relief III, IV, V, VI and VII which have cumulatively raised more than $30 million.

Always there for people in need, Whoopi also participated in the televised Hurricane Relief benefit to aid victims of Hurricane Andrew. In 1999, she became one of Essence Magazine’s “Women of the Year.” Whoopi fullfilled a childhood fantasy and became part of Hollywood history in February, 1995, when prints of her hands, feet and dreadlock braids were placed in cement in the forecourt of Mann’s Chinese Theatre. She received her star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame on her birthday, November 13, 2001.

No stranger to hosting, Whoopi has done the honours for the 1992 34th Annual GrammyAwards and ABC’s A Gala For the President at Ford’s Theatre in 1993 and in 1994. On March 21, 1994, Whoopi hosted The 66th Annual Academy Awards – the highest rated special of the 1993-1994 television season – for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award. That was also the first time a woman or an African-American had ever been solo host. She hosted the Academy Awards show again in 1996, 1999 and 2002. And from 1998-2002 she placed herself at the center square of a highly successful resurrected Hollywood Squares.
Whoopi has moved back to New York, where she grew up.

She extracted herself from her responsibilities with Hollywood Squares and insisted that her new NBC sitcom be filmed in New York City. She was creator, executive producer and star of her own NBC-TV show, Whoopi. On its 20th anniversary, Whoopi updated her one-woman Broadway show, returning to the Lyceum Theater for a limited engagement, again under the auspices of Mike Nichols. Because she has been getting fewer roles offered to her, she has been making development deals with USA Networks, Lifetime, and others.