William Kentridge was born in Johannesburg, where he continues to live and work today. He earned a B.A. in politics and African studies in 1976 from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. From 1976 to 1978 Kentridge studied fine art at the Johannesburg Art Foundation, where he later taught printmaking, and during 1981-82 he completed a course in mime and theatre at L'Ecole Jacques LeCoq in Paris.
William Kentridge moved between film, drawing and theatre throughout his career, with recent projects frequently integrating elements from all these media and more. William Kentridge is best known for his charcoal drawing stop-frame animations.
Since his participation in Dokumenta X in Kassel in 1997, solo shows of Kentridge's work have been shown in many museums and galleries around the world. He has won various awards and is one of South Africa's most well known artists.
In 2010, Kentridge received the prestigious Kyoto Prize in recognition of his contributions in the field of arts and philosophy.
In 2011, he was elected as an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and received the degree of Doctor of Literature honoris causa from the University of London.
In 2012, Kentridge presented the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University and was elected member of the American Philosophical Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Also in that year, he was awarded the Dan David Prize by Tel Aviv University, and was named as Commandeur des Arts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.
In 2013, William Kentridge was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by Yale University and in 2014 received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Cape Town.
In 2018 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Pretori
