Nᴉxau ǂToma (short: Nᴉxau, alternative spelling Gcao Tekene Coma, ca. 1943 – 1 July 2003)
was a Namibian bush farmer and actor who was made famous by his roles in the
1980 movie The Gods Must Be Crazy and its sequels, in which he played the
Kalahari San (Bushman) Xixo. The Namibian called him "Namibia's most
famous actor".
Nᴉxau was a member of the San, also known as Bushmen. He spoke Juǀʼhoan,
Otjiherero and Tswana fluently, as well as some Afrikaans. He did not know his
own exact age, and before his appearance in the films he had little experience
of typical "modern" living: he had only ever seen three white people
before being cast and was unaware of the value of paper money, allowing
(according to legend) his first earnings for The Gods Must Be Crazy to
literally blow away in the wind.
San, also known as Bushmen people from karahari desert
He earned only a few hundred dollars for his work
in The Gods Must Be Crazy, but by the time of the first sequel he was educated
about the purpose and value of money within the modern world and negotiated a
much larger sum for the film. Regardless, he did come from a culture that did
not value the material things that money could buy and consequently had never
before learned money management skills; "he did not have the skills to
manage his income," although he used some of it to build a brick house
with running water and electricity for his family.
In addition to The Gods Must Be Crazy, Nᴉxau starred in a series of sequels: The Gods Must
Be Crazy II, Crazy Safari, Crazy Hong Kong and The Gods Must Be Funny in China.
After his film career ended, he returned to Namibia, where he farmed maize,
pumpkins and beans and kept several head of cattle (but no more than 20 at a
time because, according to The Independent, without the complex farming systems
of the "modern world," he had trouble keeping track of more). The
Namibian local daily New Era stated that he simply could not count further than
20.
Nᴉxau converted to Christianity. In July 2000, he was baptised as a
Seventh-day Adventist.
Nᴉxau in 2003.
On 1 July 2003, he died from
multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosiswhile he was hunting guinea fowl. According
to official estimates he was about 59 years old at the time. He was buried on
12 July in a semi-traditional ceremony at Tsumkwe, next to the grave of his
second wife. He has six surviving children.
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