Kenya’s Alex Khayo is among the three finalists for BET’s dramatic reality contest “Top Actor Africa,” making him the first Kenyan actor to make it to the top 3.

Khayo will be competing against Jesse Suntele and Shamilla Miller, both from South Africa, for the grand prize that includes the coveted title of Top Actor Africa, $10,000 (Ksh 1,000,000), international representation and access to Hollywood auditions.

Khayo, an actor and a commercial model, has experience both in TV and Theatre and has also been featured in several TV commercials as well as other roles in TV programmes.

“Finally my art has been internationally recognised, making it to top 3 is as good as a win, now more than ever it all makes sense that hard-work and prayers truly work. I see this as an opportunity to showcase my acting ability, having tackled every single genre in acting, I can literally walk onto a set and confidently put up a performance of a lifetime,” says Khayo.

Top Actor Africa selected 12 actors to participate in the reality show in November last year and has been testing them in nine grueling acting challenges, taking them through every genre from Improv to Comedy, Theatre, Soapie, Commercial, Romance, Horror, Drama and Action. Those who made it for the challenge are 7 South Africans, 3 Nigerians and 2 Kenyans.

As they approach the final hurdle, the three finalists will be tasked with their final challenge, “Action Movie”, in which they will have to pull out all the stops to convince the judges that they deserve the Top Actor Africa crown.

With just a few weeks remaining until the winner is announced, BET viewers will be able to vote for their favourite Top Actor by visiting www.betafrica.tv from Wednesday 4 May to Tuesday 10 May.  The winner will be revealed on Tuesday 24 May at 20:30 EAT.