Sal Masekela

Sal Masekela
Sal Masekela in 2009
Born	Selema Mabena Masekela (1971-08-28) August 28, 1971 Los Angeles
Occupation	Actor Television host Television commentators
Years active	1992–present

Selema Mabena "Sal" Masekela (born August 28, 1971) is an American television host, sports commentator, actor, and singer.

Biography

Sal is the son of the South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela, and the older half-brother of Survivor: Cook Islands contestant Nathan Gonzalez. He was raised in Staten Island, New York and Carlsbad, California, where he attended Carlsbad High School. Sal is the co-founder of Berkela Motion Pictures with Jason Bergh.

His career began as the receptionist/intern at Transworld Publications in 1992, home of TW Snow, TW Skateboarding and TW Surf magazines. An avid surfer, skateboarder and snowboarder, he is described by some as the face and voice of action sports.^[1] He served as an NBA sideline reporter for ESPN during the 2003-2004 season. Sal Masekela was co-host of The Daily 10, a countdown of the day's "top 10" entertainment stories, on the E! network until it was cancelled on Sept 27, 2010 (last show Oct 1, 2010).^[2] He was also host of both the X Games and Winter X Games on ESPN for 13 years but left in 2012 to work for NBC and NBC Sports Network through a contract with Red Bull Media House.^[3] He appears in the "Green" episode of Yo Gabba Gabba singing the song "Hello World" which aired on Nick Jr. on April 22, 2009.

In 2010, he was hired by ESPN to help as a correspondent in its coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.^[4] While working as a correspondent, Sal was featured, with his father, Hugh, in a series of videos on ESPN. The series, called "Umlando - Through my Father's Eyes", aired in 10 parts during ESPN's coverage of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The series focused on Hugh and Sal's travels through South Africa. Hugh brought his son to the places where he grew up. It was Sal's first trip to his father's homeland.^[5]

In 2012 Sal's film Alekesam (his last name spelled backwards) premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival ^[6]

Social initiatives

Sal is involved in several social initiatives, and is the co-founder of Stoked Mentoring, an organization dedicated to mentoring at risk youth through actions sports. He also serves on the advisory board of The Lunchbox Fund, a non-profit organization which provides a daily meal to students of township schools in Soweto of South Africa. Sal is also a strong public supporter of the Surfrider Foundation and Life Rolls On.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sal Masekela.

• Sal Masekela at the Internet Movie Database