Terence Mukasa
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Simon Shiyamba, Namibia’s first international action actor and stunt performer to feature on Netflix.
Windhoek-born and raised Shiyamba is starring in the action-filled production by Wilson Yip, titled ‘Ip Man 4: The Finale’, which is currently available on the US online streaming platform, Netflix.
‘Ip Man 4: The Finale’ was released in 2019 and has grossed over U$239 million.
Shiyamba (27) has over the past six years featured in eight films, two of which are top 10 highest-grossing films of any production in China. Some of these movies include Wu Jings’s ‘Wolf Warrior 2’, which is ranked second with box office revenue of over USD874 million, and Dante Lam’s ‘Operation Red Sea’, which is ranked eighth with box office revenue of over USD 579.2 million.
He has also worked with some of the best in the action movie industry, such as the Jackie Chan Sunt team, Simon West, Donnie Yen and others. Shiyamba told VIBEZ! he joined the movie industry in 2016 when he was asked to audition for a role as an extra in the film ‘Wolf Warrior 2’. This was in his third year of studying architecture in China.
“It was during my studies when I joined the movie industry unintentionally – because, to me, it was more for leisure,” he explained. The production team took notice of his physical athleticism and offered him an opportunity to join a group that would be trained by an American stunt crew for a month. “It was these 30 days that were vital in a career I never knew I would fall in love with. In those 30 days, I worked with many of the action industry’s top professionals like Sam Hargrave (director for ‘Extraction’, assistant director on Star Wars’ ‘The Mandalorian’; Marvel’s ‘Deadpool 2’; ‘Avengers, Endgame’; ‘Avengers, Infinity Wars’; ‘Atomic Blonde’, and ‘The Accountant’ – just to name a few of his notable work. Jing Wu, Aaron Toney, Thayr Harris, Brian Ho and Jack Wai-Leung Wong are people whom I still make use of for advice and motivation.” The Delta High School alumnus was later invited to join a Chinese-based foreign action team called ‘Troys Team’ – less than a year from his first experience in the industry. “The next few years, I would balance my time with university and martial arts training. Something that I found difficult but in 2018, I was able to complete my Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture.”
Shiyamba said the team helped him perfect his skills and gave him an opportunity to travel to Thailand, where he learned how to safely perform stunts and set up the stunt wires. “We were also offered action acting classes to the film community in Beijing, and taught filmmakers how to perform fights, stunts and manoeuvre an action-filled set.”
The young man credits his parents Elina and Peter Shiyamba for according him and his sister opportunities they never had in life.
“It is these opportunities that took me from Van Rhyn Primary School to Delta primary and secondary schools, where I completed my JSC and NSSC. After high school, I went to study architecture in Beijing, China.”
Shiyamba, who is currently unemployed, is now working on plans to start action movie classes in Windhoek, where he hopes to teach young enthusiastic Namibians on action and related stunt performance.
“I feel like I could offer Namibia so much through teaching classes and performing on Namibian full and co-produced productions. Hopefully, with the assistance of the Namibian Film Commission and similar institutes, I can start up action classes here in Namibia in an attempt to create a market and drastically increase the quality of action work done here, in Namibia.”
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