Nacido en 1955 en Johannesburgo, William Kentridge asistió a la Universidad de Witwatersrand en Johannesburgo de 1973 a 1976 y a la Fundación de Arte de Johannesburgo de 1976 a 1978. Originalmente se formó en pintura y dibujo, pero también estudió mimo y teatro en L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq de París de 1981 a 1982. Kentridge es reconocido internacionalmente como uno de los artistas más importantes de su generación en todo el mundo. Ha ampliado constantemente los límites de los medios artísticos y durante décadas se ha mantenido a la vanguardia de un número cada vez mayor de artistas contemporáneos que construyen y desafían nuestras identidades e historias globales.
William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films, especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s. The latter are constructed by filming a drawing, making erasures and changes, and filming it again. He continues this process meticulously, giving each change to the drawing a quarter of a second to two seconds' screen time. A single drawing will be altered and filmed this way until the end of a scene. These palimpsest-like drawings are later displayed along with the films as finished pieces of art.
Kentridge has created art work as part of design of theatrical productions, both plays and operas. He has served as art director and overall director of numerous productions, collaborating with other artists, puppeteers and others in creating productions that combine drawings and multi-media combinations.