Meet Raphael Griffiths aka Zithulele Bhengu Of e.tv Soapie Imbewu The Seed

Multi talented Raphael Griffiths, is an actor, singer, television and radio personality best known for his role on SABC2 drama, Muvhango, as Vusi Mokwevho.

When he joined the cast about eight years ago, he was greeted by a lot of hate for his “lack of acting skills,” which was quite discouraging, but he quickly picked himself up and has since then started putting his foot prints in the sands of the industry. He said:

“When I started presenting, I knew for sure I could do it. But when I got into acting, I was not an actor and only after stepping into it I realised, ‘man, you actually suck at this.’

I also got a lot of people just brutalising me, everywhere even on social media and I thought, ‘yoh, maybe I should quit.”

Raphael said there was a time he got help from three acting coaches at once because he was not willing to accept that he was a bad actor.

He said he found mentors such as his on-screen mother Thandaza (Sindi Dlathu), started reading more books and watched endless hours of online master classes.

“It took a lot of humility for me to say, ‘you know what, I was never taught to quit and if everyone thinks I’m bad, then I’m just gonna work at it until I get better.’

I respected the craft and I really wanted to be great at it and I had to humble myself to begin to learn, so I did. It wasn’t easy but it was worth it at the end.”

The Zulu actor said he was glad he stuck it out and didn’t quit because he would have otherwise missed out on opportunities such as his new gig on Imbewu: The Seed.

“The faith that uBab’Duma had in me kept me going. Because when the whole country was saying, ‘fire this guy, he’s a bad actor’, he chose to believe in my potential.”

Raphael got his education/ training at AFDA, where he studied Television Production and Media Music Composition.

He started his career in 2009 as a presenter on SABC2’s youth programmes Q-base 28. And in 2010, he became the anchor man of SABC 2 music show, M3 (Music Moves me).

He host his Radio show “The Playground” Sundays 8-11 am on Transafrica Radio channel 172 on the DSTV audio bouquet.

Raphael who is also a music artist, is known in the music circle as Young Raphy, and has since released his first single featuring another up & coming rapper, Jean Daniel, titled ‘Goggles’.

Raphael is presently in the cast of e.tv soapie, ‘Imbewu’ where he plays the role of Zithulele Bhengu.

Twitter: @el_Rafael

IG: raphaelgriffitsiii