Jonathan Shapiro’s biography, fact, career, awards, net worth and life story

Intro South African artist
Is Cartoonist
Journalist
From South Africa
Type Arts
Journalism
Gender male
Birth

27 October 1958, Cape Town

Age 62 years
Star sign Scorpio

Jonathan Shapiro, born 1958 in Cape Town, is a South African cartoonist, famous as Zapiro, whose work appears in numerous South African publications and has been exhibited internationally on many occasions. He is the nephew of British magician David Berglas and cousin to Marvin Berglas, director of Marvin’s Magic.

Early life

Jonathan was born in Cape Town, South Africa to Gershon and Gaby Shapiro. He studied architecture at the University of Cape Town but found it unsatisfying and moved to the art campus, Michaelis. Shortly after this he was conscripted into the army for two years, where he refused to carry arms. In 1983 he became active in the newly formed anti-Apartheid movement, the United Democratic Front and as a result was arrested under the Illegal Gatherings Act and, subsequently, monitored by military intelligence. Zapiro was an important participant in South Africa’s End Conscription Campaign, designing its logo. After his military service he applied for and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York for two years.

The name Zapiro was derived from the nickname of a fellow pupil at Rondebosch Boys’ High School, Martin Szapiro, whose friends called him Zap. After Martin’s death in a mountaineering accident, Zapiro chose this name. The first Zapiro character was a character named Preppy, whose main characteristic was his “kuif” (fringe), and who commented on issues that went on around school.

Work

Jonathan started out as the editorial cartoonist of South in 1987. In 1988 Jonathan was detained shortly before leaving on a Fulbright Scholarship to study media arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York. There he studied under the comics masters Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman.

Subsequently, Zapiro started out as the editorial cartoonist for South newspaper in 1987, and after his stint in New York he was the editorial cartoonist for the Sowetan from 1994 to 2005. His cartoons appeared in the Cape Argus from 1996 to 1997. He has been the editorial cartoonist for the Mail & Guardian since 1994, the Sunday Times since 1998 and since September 2005 he has appeared three times a week in the Cape Times, the Star, the Mercury and the Pretoria News.

Zapiro’s work appears daily on the website of South African independent news publication, Mail & Guardian and weekly on the site of the Sunday Times.

Zapiro’s caricatures also appear in the form of puppets on the satirical television and web show ZANEWS, a Spitting Image type of programme he helped launch in 2009 alongside producer Thierry Cassuto.

Zapiro has published 20 annual cartoon collections:

  • The Madiba Years (1996)
  • The Hole Truth (1997)
  • End of Part One (1998)
  • Call Mr Delivery (1999)
  • The Devil Made Me Do It! (2000)
  • The ANC Went in 4×4 (2001)
  • Bushwhacked (2002)
  • Dr Do-Little and the African Potato (2003)
  • Long Walk to Free Time (2004)
  • Is There a Spin Doctor in the House? (2005)
  • Da Zuma Code (2006)
  • Take Two Veg and Call Me in the Morning (2007)
  • Pirates of Polokwane (2008)
  • The Mandela Files (2008) – Large Format Hardcover
  • Don’t Mess with the President’s Head (2009)
  • Do You Know Who I Am?! (2010)
  • The Last Sushi (2011)
  • But Will It Stand Up in Court? (2012)
  • The Big Fat Gupta Wedding (2013)
  • Vuvuzela Nation – Zapiro on SA Sport 1995 – 2013 (2013)
  • Democrazy (2014)
  • It’s Code Red! (2014)

Awards and exhibitions

Shapiro became the first cartoonist to win a category prize in the CNN African Journalist of the Year Awards in 2001, and was awarded the Mondi Newspaper Award for Graphic Journalism in both 2003 and 2004. That same year he was made an Honorary Doctor of Literature by the University of Transkei. In 2005 Shapiro won the Principal Prince Claus Award.

He has held solo cartoon exhibitions in New York, London and Frankfurt and many in South Africa, and has also exhibited in numerous group shows locally and internationally. His exhibition “Jiving with Madiba” was held at the South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town from 14 July to 27 November 2011. He has been an invited participant in cartoon events in Cameroon, Botswana, Australia, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Italy. In 2003 he was Africa’s only representative amongst cartoonists invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and he attended the forum again in 2004–2006.

In 2007, he received the Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award at the annual Cartoonists Rights Network International dinner, capping the 50th Anniversary Convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. At the South African Cartoonists Awards in 2008 he won the Best Humorist Cartoon award. In 2009, the Media Institute of Southern Africa awarded Zapiro its MISA Press Freedom Award for his two decades of humour and satire in South Africa.

He was awarded the Freedom to Publish Prize by the International Publishers Association in 2012.

Criticism

In 2003, Zapiro made headlines when members of the Faith and Politics Institute, an American organisation, lodged complaints against three of the cartoons at an exhibition for visiting American congressional representatives as well as members of the institute. The cartoons in question depicted former American president Bill Clinton and US policies of “trade and not aid”, and President George W. Bush with a raised middle finger in a comment on American unilateralism and Bush’s stance on the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

In 2006, former Deputy President of South Africa Jacob Zuma furthered his claim of being “tried by the media” and has threatened to bring defamation action against various elements of the press for remarks that he alleges are defamatory. Approximately R15 million of the R63 million rand demanded by his legal representatives are in connection with Zapiro cartoons.

In 2008, Zapiro met with further animosity, this time from the South African ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) over a cartoon that appeared in the Sunday Times on 7 September 2008. The cartoon depicts a scene where the ANC president’s (Jacob Zuma) staunchest supporters (ANC Youth League president Julius Malema, secretary general of the ANC – Gwede Mantashe, SACP secretary general Blade Nzimande and Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi) are holding down Lady Justice, while Jacob Zuma is in a state of undress getting ready to “rape” Lady Justice. Mantashe, who is shown in the cartoon with a speech bubble containing “Go for it, boss”, labelled the cartoon “racist”, while ANC spokesperson Jesse Duarte said the cartoon is “vile, crude and disgusting”. Zapiro refuses to apologise for the cartoon. The African National Congress, the South African Communist Party and the ANC Youth League released the joint statement. as a formal response to The Sunday Times, while the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) issued a separate press statement

On 21 May 2010 the Mail and Guardian published a strip from Zapiro depicting the prophet Muhammed, as part of Everyone Draw mohammad day. On 20 May 2010, the M&G had won an eleventh-hour court bid by the Council of Muslim Theologians to bar the publication of the cartoon. A week later, Zapiro released another cartoon in response to the various reactions to the original cartoon. In it he says that he will have to accept that exceptions will have to be made in regard to ‘religious censorship’. This was seen by some as a statement that he felt that his freedom of speech would have to have been limited because of those that were insulted by his cartoon which had graphically depicted the prophet Mohamed.

In 2016 a cartoon he published depicting National Prosecuting Authority head Shaun Abrahams as a monkey was criticised for being racist. Shapiro apologised for the cartoon stating that “I’ve offended politicians for all sorts of things. I’ve been attacked because of the cartoons of Jacob Zuma. I can defend; I’d say‚ 99% of them. Occasionally‚ I make mistakes… “This‚ I see now as a mistake.”

You May Also Like

Rob Brydon’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

Rob Brydon net worth and salary: Rob Brydon is a Welsh actor, comedian, television and radio personality, singer, and impressionist who has a net worth of $8 million. Rob Brydon was born in Baglan, Glamorgan, Wales in May 1965. As an actor he starred as Keith Barret in the television series Marion & Geoff from 2000 to 2003. From 2004 to 2005 he played the same role in the TV series The Keith Barret Show. From 2005 to 2006 Brydon starred as Dr. Paul Hamilton on the series Supernova. He starred as himself on the television series Annually Retentive from 2006 to 2007. From 2007 to 2010 he starred as Bryn on the TV series Gavin & Stacey. From 2010 to 2014 Brydon starred as Rob in the series The Trip. He has starred in the movies Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, A Knight’s Tale, 24 Hour Party People, Cruise of the Gods, Shaun of the Dead, A Cock and Bull Story, The Trip, The Best of Men, Gangsta Granny, The Trip to Italy, and Cinderella. Brydon has hosted the TV series Invasion, Top of the Pops 2, The Rob Brydon Show, and Would I Lie to You?. He has won British Comedy Awards in 2000 for Best Comedy Newcomer and in 2001 for Best TV Comedy Actor.
Read More

Paul Rudd’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

Paul Rudd Net Worth: Paul Rudd is an American actor, screenwriter, and producer who has a net worth of $70 million. Rudd rose to prominence in the early 90s, later becoming one of the most well-known actors in the world. He has a long list of credits to his name, and he has appeared in some of the biggest blockbusters of the last few decades. He is also an accomplished television actor. Over the course of his career, Paul has been nominated for a number of awards, winning several of them. Between June 2018 and June 2019, Paul Rudd earned $40 million from his various endeavors, making him one of the highest-paid celebrities on the planet for the year. In 2015, he was given his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Early Life: Paul Stephen Rudd was born on April 6th of 1969 in Passaic, New Jersey. Paul was raised in a Jewish household by parents who were both originally from London, England. He loved reading old British comic books when he was a child, such as “The Beano” and “The Dandy.” At the age of 10, Paul moved with his family, to Lenexa, Kansas. Although he also spent time living in California, Rudd graduated from high school in Kansas and subsequently attended the University of Kansas. While in college, Rudd studied theatre before moving on to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he studied alongside Matthew Lillard. During this period, he also studied Jacobean drama in Oxford at the British American Drama Academy. To support himself during acting school, Paul worked as a DJ at Bar Mitzvahs. He continued to do odd jobs after graduating, including glazing hams at the Holiday Ham Company in Kansas. Career: Paul Rudd arrived on the scene in 1992 when he played Kirby Quimby Philby in the series “Sisters.” He followed up with a recurring role in “Wild Oats” before booking a breakthrough role in the comedy film “Clueless.” He starred alongside Alicia Silverstone in the 1995 film, which was considered a “sleeper hit.” “Clueless” performed well at the box office, gained solid reviews, and later achieved a cult following. During this early period in Rudd’s career, he appeared in films like “Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers,” “William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet,” “The Locusts,” “Overnight Delivery,” “The Object of My Affection,” “200 Cigarettes,” and “The Cider House Rules.” After an appearance in the action film “Gen-Y Cops,” Rudd gained considerable exposure after booking a recurring role in the legendary series “Friends.” Further TV roles came with “Reno 911!” and “Veronica Mars” before he started working with filmmaker Judd Apatow for the first time. He first collaborated with Apatow with a role in “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” He followed up with roles in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin, “Knocked Up,” “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Year One,” and “Bridesmaids.” He collaborated with Apatow once again with 2012’s “Wanderlust,” booking a starring role and also earning production credits. Further roles came in “This is 40” and “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.” Towards the end of the 2000s, he appeared in “The Oh in Ohio,” “The Ten,” and “Over Her Dead Body.” In 2008, he co-wrote the film “Role Models” and also starred in the picture. In 2009, he booked another starring role in “I Love You Man” alongside Jason Segel. That year, he also created a TV series called “Party Down” and voiced a character in the animated film “Monsters Vs. Aliens.” In 2010, he appeared alongside Steve Carell once again in “Dinner for Schmucks.” In 2012, Rudd switched gears; booking a role in the dramatic film “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” To kick off the 2010s, Paul booked a role in the comedy-drama “Our Idiot Brother.” In 2012, he returned to television, playing Bobby Newport in “Parks and Recreation.” He subsequently won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series. In 2013, Rudd’s career took a considerable step forward when he booked the title role in Marvel’s film “Ant-Man.” The movie was a surprise hit, grossing almost $520 million at the box office. The popularity of this new Marvel character led to him appearing in “Captain America: Civil War” and the sequel “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” By this point, Paul Rudd was a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he predictably booked a role in the 2019 film “Avengers: Endgame” (which famously became the highest-grossing movie of all time). During the mid-to-late 2010s, Rudd appeared in films like “The Fundamentals of Caring” and “The Catcher Was a Spy.” He also continued to work as a voice actor, booking roles in animated films like “Sausage Party” and “The Little Prince.” In 2018, he joined the cast of the Netflix series “Living with Yourself” and also acted as an executive producer. The show debuted in 2019. In addition, Paul Rudd has been quite active in the theatre community over the years. He has appeared in Broadway productions such as “The Last Night of Ballyhoo,” “Twelfth Night,” and “Three Days of Rain.” Relationships: Paul Rudd reveals very little about his personal life. In 2003, Paul married Julie Yaeger, who was working in a publicist’s office when she first met him. Over the course of their relationship, the pair have two children together. The family lived in Rhinebeck, New York, although Rudd is rumored to own property in West Village, New York City. Other Ventures: In 2014, Paul Rudd and Jeffrey Dean Morgan came together to purchase Samuel’s Sweet Shop. The two actors saved the business from being closed down, as the previous owner suddenly passed away prior to them purchasing it. This previous owner was a close friend of Paul’s.
Read More