Jet-setter. Global citizen. Digital nomad, if you’re less kind. Thapelo Mokoena rejects all three labels. He prefers to describe himself as having “a global mindset”.
I catch up with the actor over a late lunch as he juggles phone calls and wraps up meetings. It’s simply the nature of being an actor today. You build an enterprise, and then you have to run it.
The seasoned traveller is cooling off after returning from Wimbledon in London as part of South Africa’s Stella Artois contingent. The brand was marking the launch of its new white can, inspired by Wimbledon’s iconic all-white tradition, and Mokoena was among the guests at Stella Artois’ “Let’s Do Dinner” experience. Dubbed one of the tournament’s most fascinating dinner parties, the event saw him rubbing shoulders with television and music stars including Theo James and Natasha Bedingfield. Just another stamp in the ever-expanding pages of his passport.
God put us on Earth to explore it, and I try to live my life that way — without borders.
Like many cosmopolitan travellers, Mokoena first became familiar with Stella Artois in New York, the mention of which sent us into an enthusiastic conversation about brownstones, terrace houses, and the enduring appeal of urban architecture within the black diaspora.
“It’s really nice to be at one with this architecture, the people, the cathedrals. Everything here is grand.”
“Just like in New York, I got that feeling of being a global citizen. We are people of the world before we are from Joburg, or the Eastern Cape or KZN.”
Yet for Mokoena, it all began in the heart of KwaZulu-Natal, in uMnambithi, where he grew up with five siblings, watching the wider world unfold on television and dreaming of becoming part of it. To keep her energetic sons at home, his mother rented VHS tapes and kept them entertained with gaming consoles, unknowingly planting the seeds of his future career.
“We would finish watching a movie, something with cowboys starring Clint Eastwood, and then we’d run outside and act it all out,” he said.
Those childhood re-enactments ignited a passion for filmmaking and storytelling. He also remembers being inspired by seeing black entertainers succeed internationally, particularly R&B star and actor Tyrese Gibson, whose early Calvin Klein campaign became symbolic of what was possible.
“Seeing a black face on a bus or a billboard or on TV in a programme broadcast from the States was amazing. In South Africa, at the time, you would never see a billboard led by a black face. It was never global on the same scale.”
His story mirrors, in some ways, that of fellow Stella Artois international guest Theo James, who’s spoken about growing up as the youngest of five children before becoming one of Hollywood’s leading men. In Mokoena’s case, his family became his first co-stars.
Today he occupies a career sweet spot few actors reach, enjoying the kind of leading-man roles that often come between 40 and 60 years old. Most recently, he wrapped production on Boyz Trip, an American production alongside Algee Smith and Rome Flynn. He has also completed work on the UK’s Bulletproof, as well as the latest seasons of Bad Influencer and Fatal Seduction.
In many ways, he now occupies the same position Tyrese Gibson once did for him: proof to young South Africans that international success is attainable.
“God put us on Earth to explore it, and I try to live my life that way — without borders,” says Mokoena, viewing success as something to embrace rather than reduce to tokenism. “We are all just people. We’re all just the guy next door and that’s OK. It’s OK for you to cross the seas and find success. Whoever sees what I put out there, I just want them to see that we all belong here, man. We are in the room, so take your seat.”
But acting has changed dramatically. It’s no longer the industry that produced stars like Clint Eastwood. Nor is it the one Mokoena entered in the early 2000s. Today’s entertainment landscape is driven by influence, brand partnerships, multiple income streams and the corporatisation of creativity.
It prompts the obvious question: is he a brand or is he an actor?
“You sound like you took a note from my masterclass,” he laughs. “I respect someone who says they’re not part of the digital world, but it’s an extension of who I am.”
While Mokoena is still the young actor from uMnambithi at heart, his digital presence continues to exist — and grow — even while he sleeps. That reality has transformed celebrity into a business that demands careful management. Alongside acting, he’s also a businessman, the co-owner of Nero Wine and continues to expand his men’s grooming venture, Bakoena Brands.
For him, creativity and entrepreneurship are complementary rather than competing pursuits.
“One feeds the other. How I pitch. Saying the right words at the right time. Knowing when to listen. Acting isn’t what you say, it’s what you don’t say.”
South African actors, he argues, still lack the union protections and residual income structures that support many performers overseas. He’s watched veteran actors portray wealthy characters on screen, only to return home to financial hardship after filming ends.
For Mokoena, the solution lies in understanding your own value. “We’re all brands. Not in the corny way it’s loosely used today, but as the definition is intended,” he says. Then, smiling, he quotes Jay-Z: “I’m not a businessman; I’m a business, man.”
It’s a lyric I’d already scribbled into my notebook, anticipating a question about his love of music. Few lines better capture the philosophy behind the empire he continues to build for himself and his family.
“It’s thanks to my dad,” he says. “He was an entrepreneur who could take R10 and turn it into R100.” His father, the late Mike Mokoena, who later served on the PSL executive committee, achieved remarkable success despite having only a Standard 4 (Grade 6) education.
But Jay-Z is only one stop on Mokoena’s playlist. While many millennials struggle to keep pace with today’s emerging artists, his musical tastes move effortlessly from Natasha Bedingfield to mbaqanga, which he plays while travelling through London as a way of reconnecting with home.
Music has always been part of his story. Few people know that he once formed a small band with his siblings and friends. “It was called Tripsy,” he says, explaining the group’s acronym-inspired name. They wrote and performed soulful songs and, even today, he’s quick to suggest musical cues that can elevate the emotional impact of a scene.
As Wimbledon comes to a close and another chapter begins, Mokoena is already looking ahead — to his upcoming wine festival, new productions and the next flight that will carry him somewhere else in the world. If his career is any indication, the global mindset he speaks about is no longer an aspiration. It’s simply the way he lives.
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