When Sello Maake Ka-Ncube landed at an airport in Ethiopia, he got an unexpected reminder that his work had travelled farther than he had.
A few people recognised the South African actor from Blood & Water, the Netflix series that had become a hit well beyond the continent. Later, while travelling in Europe, he was recognised again by a group of Spaniards.
“These productions do give visibility to actors, and I think they also give visibility to South African storytelling,” Maake Ka-Ncube told TechCabal.
That visibility is one of the clearest signs of how much Africa’s entertainment industry has changed. A decade ago, the challenge was getting African stories beyond their home markets. Today, a Nigerian film can reach millions of viewers globally, a South African series can turn local actors into international names, and an actor from Zimbabwe can land a role in one of Netflix’s biggest global franchises.
Netflix, the world’s largest streaming service by subscribers, has shown that African stories can become global hits. Nigeria’s The Black Book film reached Netflix’s Global Top 10 in 69 countries, Blood & Water, a Netflix hit series, made South African actors recognisable far beyond the continent, and Zimbabwean actor Daniel Lasker joined the cast of One Piece, the live-action series filmed in South Africa for a global audience.
