Ian Roberts (South African actor)

Ian Roberts
Roberts performing at the Rittelfees in Vredendal, Western Cape, in 2003
Born	(1952-07-04) 4 July 1952 Fort Beaufort, South Africa
Alma mater	Rhodes University
Occupations	Actor playwright singer
Musical career
Years active	1980–present

Ian Roberts (born 30 November 1951) is a South African actor, playwright and singer. A native English speaker, he is also fluent in Afrikaans and Xhosa.

Early life

Roberts was born in Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape Province and grew up on his father's citrus farm near the town. He attended St. Andrew's Preparatory School and St. Andrew's College in Grahamstown. After completing high school he performed his compulsory national service in the South African Army, which he completed in 1971.

After a variety of different jobs and a course in photography at the Port Elizabeth Technical College from 1973 to 1975, Roberts enrolled at Rhodes University in 1976 for a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in speech, drama and social anthropology.

Acting career

Roberts became a South African icon when he played the character of Boet in a long-running series of television advertisements for Castrol motor oil. This character (together with the other characters Swaer and Moegoe) has also been featured in M-Net's comedy series Kalahari Oasis as well as in his Radio Kalahari Orkes band.

In the Oscar-winning South African film, Tsotsi, Roberts played the role of a police captain.

He was married to South African actress Michelle Botes, but the couple divorced in 1999. They had two children.

Filmography

List of performances by Ian Roberts in film

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1987	Jane and the Lost City	Carl
1989	Arende	Sloet Steenkamp
1989	A Private Life	Sergeant Smit	Television Movie
1992	The Power of One	Hoppie Gruenewald
1993	Triptiek	–	Television Series
1993	Daisy de Melker	Sid de Melker	Television Movie
1995	Cry, the Beloved Country	Evans
1996	Rhodes	Colenbrander	Television Miniseries
1997	Mandela and de Klerk	Kobie Coetsee	Television Movie
1998	Paljas	Frans
1998	Tarzan and the Lost City	Captain Dooley
1998	Sweepers	Yager
1999	A Reasonable Man	Chris Van Rooyen
2000	I Dreamed of Africa	Mike Donovan
2001	Malunde	Kobus
2001	Askari	Ripshaw
2002	Promised Land	Gerhard Snyman
2003	Hoodlum & Son	Earl
2004	King Solomon's Mines	Sir Henry	Television Movie
2004	Red Dust	Piet Muller
2005	Wah-Wah	John Traherne
2005	Tsotsi	Captain Smit
2005	3 Needles	Hallyday
2006	Number 10	Marius Kramer
2008	Bakgat!	Basjan Du Preez
2010	Bakgat! II	Basjan Du Preez
2013	Bakgat! tot die mag 3	Basjan Du Preez
2013	Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux	Oom Frans
2016	Cape Town	Gerbrand Vos	Television Miniseries
2017	Van der Merwe	Oupa Schalk van der Merwe

In addition to the above, Roberts has played the leading role in Afrikaans language television series such as Sloet Steenkamp in Arende ("Eagles") and Jack Degenaar in Arsenaal ("Arsenal"), as well as a supporting role in Kwelaman (1986). He has also written a number of scripts, such as Honeytown 1 and the musical Palang van Dwaal ("Palang from Dwaal").

External links

• Ian Roberts at IMDb
• Crawford College, Sandton official site