Dumisani Dlaminic is a South African actor who also has credits including composers and film producers. One of his most talked about films is the 1992 drama and musical, Sarafina! (both a play and a movie). He is also known for his appearances in the famous South African series Jizo, Jizo.
Dumisani is also the father of the say it like this singer Doja Cat, real name, Amala Ratna Zandile Dumisani. He is often overwhelmed with pride when his famous daughter’s name is mentioned before him. In recent years, Dumisani’s daughter, Doja Cat, has made major breakthroughs. While she debuted in 2018 with her debut album Amala, it wasn’t until her singles, Streets and Say So, that she became a real breakout star, including a Grammy win in April 2022.
However, the Hot Pink singer and Dlamini have mixed feelings for each other, or rather, they have mixed relationships. Cat says she didn’t get to know Dumisani very well because she grew up without seeing him pretty much all her life. On the other hand, Dlamini claims that things are going well between him and the Kiss Me More singer. See what the real thing is. In addition, also know in detail exactly who Dumisani Dlamini is, his early life, how he met Cat’s mother, their divorce and his career, among others.
Dumisani Dlamini spent his early life in South Africa
Doja Cat’s father, Dumisani Dlamini, was born on October 23, 1963 in Durban, South Africa. However, he is said to have grown up in Mzansi.
Not much is known about Dlamini’s life prior to his career in the United States. And even to this day, despite appearing for several interviews, the 59-year-old hasn’t revealed too many of his early stories. Especially one that includes his time in his home country, South Africa.
However, Washington Post reported in 1989 that Dlamini (whose former name is Mbodla on Isibaya) Initially planning to become a plumber in his native Durban when he was in South Africa.
Dlamini’s mother died in the mid-1980s, a week before his Broadway debut in New York. Therefore, he could not attend his mother’s funeral.
Dumisani Dlaminic Career as an actor
While Cat’s father, Dumisani made his film debut with the musical Sarafina! from 1992, the Streets singer’s father was in the acting business much earlier than he usually appeared in theaters. Dumisani entered the theater at the age of 22.
Of the many theatrical performances, Nomanthemba was the one for which he received several awards, including the 1995 Joseph Jefferson Award for Choreography for Nomathemba.
As an actor, he was nominated for the Golden Horn Award for Best Supporting Actor in a TV Drama Series. It’s a bit of a mystery exactly when Dumisani immigrates to the US. However, in 2017, when speaking with Tshisalive, Dlamini said he spent 15 years in New York after creating the musical Sarafina with Whoopi Goldberg, Leleti Khumalo and Mbongeni Ngema.
In the film, Goldberg played the teacher, Mary Masombuka. Dlamini on the other hand was one of the students of Goldberg’s character nicknamed Crocodile. Then, in the late 90s, the Durban-born actor was on the art department team of a TV movie franchise, Operation Delta Force 2: Mayday. He also played the same role in the sequel, Operation Delta Force 3: Clear Purpose.
Dumisani also worked in the art department for the 2004 film, stand. The film had Punisher actor Thomas Jane as one of the lead actors. In the early 2000s Dlamini became the producer of projects such as: From Journey, Home, and Treasure, Homecoming, and Drum.
As an actor, he starred in the TV miniseries, entabeni, the film, The Seven of Daran: The Battle of Pareo Rock,
the 2009 short film Project Morning Starand the 2017 TV series, iNumber Number, among other things. His most recent acting credit is as bra Yulea in the 2021 South African thriller series, TV series, reyka.
Dlamini Relationship With Doja Cat’s Mother, Deborah Elizabeth Sawyer
Dumisani met Cat’s mother, Deborah Elizabeth Sawyer sometime in the early ’90s. At the time, he was a theater actor in New York. Dlamini was on a kind of theater tour at the time.
After it was over decided to stay in the United States. And some time after that, Dlamini met Cat’s mother, a Jewish-American woman. Cat’s parents, Dumisani and Deborah Elizabeth Sawyer, are said to have married in early 1995.
After the wedding, Dlamini and Sawyer had two children, Doja Cat, and her brother Raman Dlamini. Years later, in 2022, Dumisani revealed that he had left the US after feeling homesick.
He also said he tried to bring his family, Cat, her sister and her mother to his homeland but was unsuccessful. However, some reports write that Dlamini left Cat’s mother as she struggled to pay her rent.
Deborah after she broke up with Dumisani raised her daughters Doja Cat and her brother all alone in Los Angeles, California.
Dumisani and his ex-wife’s divorce battle resumed decades later in 2022
It had been years since Dumisani Dlamini and Cat’s mother first broke up. In fact, Doja and her brother were still children when their parents first separated. Then, in July 2022, Radar Online came up with a rather shocking report. It said that Cat’s mother, Deborah, filed for divorce from Dumisani in March of the same year.
Surprisingly, this was 27 years after they first broke up in late 1995. Dlamini and Deborah tied the knot on February 27, 1995, according to records.
Again, according to the divorce filing papers filed by Deborah, she divorced Dumisani on October 14, 1995. At the time, Sawyer had cited irreconcilable disagreements as the main cause of the divorce.
Deborah said she began the legal separation in March 2022, but not once did her daughter’s father, Dumisani appear in court after that.
Dlamini’s ex-wife, Deborah, is now apparently a painter and visual artist. She is also a designer of menswear. Dumisani also apparently had several wives.
It is unclear who Dlamini married after Cat’s mother’s divorce. However, he has reportedly been married at least three times, including Deborah. Some say he fathered as many as 30 children. Included is at least a son who is apparently younger or about ten years old.
Dumisani Dlamini is disconnected from his daughter, Doja Cat
Dumisani and his famous daughter Doja Cat have apparently had a complicated relationship. Some say it’s been years since they met.
He has quite the reputation among Cat fans. Most of them blame him for neglecting the MTV music video winner and her mother all their lives. In her past interviews, Cat said that: she doesn’t know her father, actor and musician.
One of the first interviews Cat ever spoke about her father was on Radio One DC in 2019. She said at the time that although she had never met her father Dumisani, she often noticed his comments on her Instagram posts.
Dlamini then also revealed that she didn’t actually know him that well and only got to know him through her mother. However, in another interview, when the questioner surprises Doja with an old recording of one of her father’s musical contents. After listening to it, the Need To Know singer expresses her surprise, saying:
‘I did not know that! Damn! Produced by my father Dumisani Dlamini”
Doja also acknowledged how much of an amazing dancer and actor her father is. She went on to reveal how Dlamini once tried to contact her when she was 13. The then Planet Her singer eventually said she might meet her in the future.
When this interview of Cat first hit the web, fans praised the R and B singer for acknowledging her father. But some mentioned how terrified a man was her father.
Even when Doja spoke to Whoopi Goldberg backstage in April 2022, while filming Seth Meyer’s late night show, the Los Angeles-born singer told the Ghost actress that she had never known her father.
It felt surprising to Goldberg because she had once worked with Cat’s father in Sarafina. Goldberg told Cat that the Grammy winner’s father seemed like a good man.
Dumisani says he has a good relationship with his daughter, Doja Cat and also met her
Dlamini, on the other hand, insists that he met his daughter after she became famous. He has also claimed that everything is fine between him and the Mooo! singer.
He also frequently posts videos and photos of his daughter Doja Cat on his Instagram. In April 2022, Dumisani reposted a 2019 video of his daughter talking about him. He also shared a thank you message after his daughter won the Grammy in April 2022 for her hit single Kiss Me More.
Dumisani expressed his gratitude for the people who supported his daughter, but he was soon infused with comments saying he was a floppy dad and all. He was scolded for trying to partake in the spotlight from his daughter, the Doja Cat fame.
After the internet criticized him, Dlamini insisted he never cut his children off
The troll apparently grew to such an extent that Dlamini later removed the post from his Instagram. However, Dlamini later hit back at such comments by saying that he met his daughter and that everything is fine between them.
Dumisani claimed that he and the record producer who first communicated with Power Talk via Whatsapp in 2019 also canceled allegations that things were not healthy between him and his children.
To complete the topic, Dumisani said:
I am close to my children, all of them. I love them and they love me.
While he went back to his home country all alone, Dlamini claims that he never cut off contact with any of his children, including Doja Cat. In the interview, he also wished that all his children learn to be humble.
Dumisani also accused the US media of trying to smear the relationship between him and his children among the general masses. The Reyka star claimed his daughter’s PR team had blocked him from meeting his own daughter.
Who is richer; Dumisani or Doja cat; What is their net worth?
Although Dlamini has been in the executive business longer than his rock star daughter Cat, there is supposedly a huge difference between the Streets singer’s wealth and her father’s. Although Dumisani has been a solo artist since the late 80s, his slightly less impression in mainstream industry has always obscured the details of his net worth.
On the other hand, Dlamini’s daughter, one of the most mentioned pop artists of the 2020s, has impressively made a lot of money from her charts. In fact, she entered the millionaire club with just a few singles. In addition, Dlamini’s singer daughter is said to already have a net worth of almost or even more than $10 million.
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