Zakes Mokae

Acting

Zakes Mokae

Born 1934-08-05 · Johannesburg, South Africa

Zakes Makgona Mokae (August 5, 1934 – September 11, 2009) was a South African stage and screen actor. For his role in playwright Athol Fugard's "Master Harold"...and the Boys, Mokae won the 1982 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. His major films include Cry Freedom (1987), A Dry White Season (1989), The Island (1980), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), Outbreak (1995), and Waterworld (1995). He also had memorable guest appearances on many television series such as The X-Files, The West Wing, and Monk.

Acting credits

Waterworld poster
6.2

In a futuristic world where the polar ice caps have melted and made Earth a liquid planet, a beautiful barmaid rescues a mutant seafarer from a floating island prison. They escape, along with her young charge, Enola, and sail off aboard his ship. But the trio soon becomes the target of a menacing pirate who covets the map to 'Dryland'—which is tattooed on Enola's back.

Waterworld

1995

The Serpent and the Rainbow poster
6.4

A Harvard anthropologist is sent to Haiti to retrieve a strange powder that is said to have the power to bring human beings back from the dead. In his quest to find the miracle drug, the cynical scientist enters the rarely seen netherworld of walking zombies, blood rites and ancient curses. Based on the true life experiences of Wade Davis and filmed on location in Haiti, it's a frightening excursion into black magic and the supernatural.

The Serpent and the Rainbow

1988

Outbreak poster
6.6

A deadly airborne virus finds its way into the USA and starts killing off people at an epidemic rate. Col. Sam Daniels' job is to stop the virus spreading from a small town, which must be quarantined, and to prevent an over reaction by the White House.

Outbreak

1995

Vampire in Brooklyn poster
5.1

Detective Rita Veder is assigned to a baffling serial murder case. After examining the crime scene — a corpse-filled ship found adrift at sea — she meets Maximilian, a smooth-talking Caribbean playboy determined to romance her.

Vampire in Brooklyn

1995

Dad poster
6.4

A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. Estranged from his own son, the executive comes to realize what has been missing in his own life.

Dad

1989

Cry Freedom poster
7.0

A dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko, a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist.

Cry Freedom

1987

Roar poster
5.8

Roar follows a family who are attacked by various African animals at the secluded home of their keeper.

Roar

1981

Body Parts poster
5.8

A criminal psychologist loses his arm in a car crash, and becomes one of three patients to have their missing limbs replaced by those belonging to an executed serial killer. One of them dies violently, and disturbing occurrences start happening to the surviving two.

Body Parts

1991

The Island poster
5.3

David Nau leads a band of modern day pirates who raid yachts and sail boats of people on vacation in the Caribbean. When reporter Blair Maynard and his son arrive to investigate the mystery of the disappearing boats, Nau and his band of raiders decide to induct them into their tribe.

The Island

1980

Darling poster
6.8

Diana, a beautiful but shallow and easily distracted model and failed actress, toys with the affections of several men while attempting to gain fame and fortune in Swinging London.

Darling

1965

A Rage in Harlem poster
5.5

A beautiful black gangster's moll flees to Harlem with a trunkload of gold after a shootout, unaware that the rest of the gang, and a few other unsavoury characters, are on her trail. A pudgy momma's boy becomes the object of her affections and the unlikely hero of the tale.

A Rage in Harlem

1991

The Doctor poster
6.5

Jack McKee is a doctor with it all: he's successful, he's rich, and he has no problems.... until he is diagnosed with throat cancer. Now that he has seen medicine, hospitals, and doctors from a patient's perspective, he realises that there is more to being a doctor than surgery and prescriptions.

The Doctor

1991

Krippendorf's Tribe poster
4.6

After squandering his grant money, despondent and recently widowed anthropologist James Krippendorf must produce hard evidence of the existence of a heretofore undiscovered New Guinea tribe. Grass skirts, makeup, and staged rituals transform his three troubled children into the Shelmikedmu, a primitive culture whose habits enthrall scholars. But when a spiteful rival threatens to blow the whistle on Krippendorf's ruse, he gets into the act as well.

Krippendorf's Tribe

1998

A Dry White Season poster
6.7

During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.

A Dry White Season

1989

Dust Devil poster
6.3

A woman on the run from her abusive husband encounters a mysterious hitch-hiker.

Dust Devil

1992

Slaughter of the Innocents poster
5.5

A seasoned FBI Agent's child-genius son assists him on catching a child-killer, a schizophrenic mohab nut who believes he's been chosen by god to be a new Noah.

Slaughter of the Innocents

1993

A Caribbean Mystery poster
6.2

Aging Major Palgrave, an idiosyncratic but charming mystery writer, reveals to Miss Jane Marple that one of the guests at a luxurious Caribbean resort they're staying at is a Bluebeard-type wife murderer. Unfortunately, the Major succumbs to an apparently accidental overdose of alcohol and blood pressure medication before revealing the killer's identity. When it's discovered that the medicine belonged to another guest and the revealing photograph the Major was carrying is missing, Miss Marple realizes that the serial killer has struck again and more murders will follow.

A Caribbean Mystery

1983

Parker Kane poster
4.6

Parker Kane is a former Police Detective turned Private Investigator. When close friend Joey is murdered, leaving behind a briefcase full of money, Kane sets out to find out who was responsible. The trail of clues leads to a major scam involving illegal dumping of toxic waste.

Parker Kane

1990

The Comedians poster
6.1

American and British tourists get caught up in political unrest in Haiti.

The Comedians

1967

Rise & Walk: The Dennis Byrd Story poster
6.0

The true story of Dennis Byrd, his football career, his terrible accident, and his miraculous recovery and rehabilitation.

Rise & Walk: The Dennis Byrd Story

1994

Fragment of Fear poster
5.9

Reformed drug addict Tim Brett (David Hemmings) is vacationing in Italy with his aunt. When she is murdered, he tries to investigate. Soon his whole life spins out of control.

Fragment of Fear

1970

Gross Anatomy poster
5.7

Joe Slovak is a brilliant first-year med student whose casual, nonconforming approach to life gets tested when he enrolls in Gross Anatomy, the toughest course in med school.

Gross Anatomy

1989

One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story poster
6.1

The true story of baseball star Ron LeFlore, from his days as a street-corner punk with no future to his days behind bars on a petty robbery conviction to his ultimate once-in-a-lifetime chance with the Detroit Tigers, where he became an outstanding baseball player.

One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story

1978

The River Niger poster
6.7

An intimate look at life in the ghetto: Johnny Williams is a house painter who moonlights as a poet, struggling to financially and emotionally support his cancer-ridden wife Mattie. But times are tough and the poverty-troubled streets are even tougher, and it takes every ounce of Johnny's love and courage for the couple to make it through their strife, finding redemption in the River Niger.

The River Niger

1976