Nelson Mandela: His life in the pictures

Taking on Mandela in the movies is not for the weak. Here are eight actors who have tried to impersonate or interpret him, and the films that passed the test.

Some of the best actors have been cast as Nelson Mandela on film and in television over the last 26 years. Mandela himself made a cameo appearance at the end of Spike Lee’s 1992 movie Malcolm X. His life will no doubt be the subject of more films to come, but here are eight actors who have tried to impersonate him or to interpret him, and the pictures that passed the test.