- Bonko was born on 13 August 1991 in Johannesburg, where he also completed his high school at the National School of Arts.
- When he was in matric, he was cast as an extra in a friend’s school play and on the day of the performance, the lead actor was in no-show. “Considering that I knew his lines, my friend asked me to fill in for the missing actor and I did it. After the play, I won an award for Best Actor,” explains 31-year-old Bonko.
- Even after receiving an accolade for his acting skills, Bonko wasn’t totally convinced that he could succeed in showbiz. He enrolled to study Design and Multimedia at Johannesburg’s Vega School in 2011, but he soon dropped out. He then studied BA Communication Design at the University of Johannesburg a year after, and months later, he quit his studies again. “I didn’t enjoy both courses. So I spent the rest of [2012] self-introspecting. I thought: ‘What is the one thing that you want to do for the rest of your life?’ Sure, I enjoyed drawing and directing films, but acting always came out on top.”
- Bonko eventually took the bold step and studied Drama and Performance at The Market Theatre Laboratory in 2012-2014. “Being on stage was inexplainable feeling. I am a Leo, so I like attention. The stage is the one place I can perform, express myself and tell stories,” says Bonko.
- His acting break was in 2015 when he portrayed Jabz in critically acclaimed drama film Neckie Youth, which earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the Tribeca Film Festival in the same year.
- Bonko is an accomplished voice-over artist, and he has voiced adverts for DStv, Nedbank and Vodacom.
- In 2021 he tied the knot with actress Lesego Khoza, who played Lindiwe in BET’s telenovela Isono. “The great part about being married to an actress is that we’re involved in each other’s careers. Lesego and I always help each other before auditions. In my self-tape for The Wife, you can hear her voice in the background, reading with me,” explains Bonko.
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