She was brought into the world on 7 November 1949 in Sabhoza, a town close to Ulundi, Durban, South Africa.Her folks separated from her not long after her birth. She later experienced childhood in KwaMashu Township where she finished her education.During school times, she got pregnant and along these lines drove out of school.

In 1998, she had a residency at the Gallaudet University in Washington DC, USA, and later at the University of Louisville, the USA in 2004. With the commitment to the field of craftsmanship, she was made an Honorary Citizen of Louisville by the Mayor and got a statement of gratitude from the Kentucky Senate. Later the Governor of Kentucky gave her the title Honorary Kentucky Colonel, the most noteworthy honor in Kentucky.

She has one little girl, Phumzile from her first marriage which finished with a separation. Afterward, she was hitched to Emrys Jones, who was 10 years more youthful than Thembi. She met Emrys when he came to watch Thembi’s one lady show A Woman in Waiting. They had eight months undertaking lastly got hitched. Emrys filled in as a business investigator for a London-based oil organization. They lived respectively for a very long time until he passed on in 2016 after a heart attack.

Her acting ability was found by Welcome Msomi where Thembi acted in his unique Umabatha. She at that point joined the ‘Melodic Ipi Tombi’, and turned into the lead female as ‘Mom Tembu’. She made a few global visits including the West End and Broadway. Later she went to the USA to elevate her melodic profession where she met well-known performers Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba.They visited Europe and Africa for quite a while. In 1987, Thembi returned to South Africa and joined the Market Theater. At the theater, she got the chance to work with Janice Honeyman in Black And White Follies.

Since the 1970s, she has acted on stage for several plays. With Gcina Mhlophe and Maralin Vanrenen, she co-composed and played out the stage play Have You Seen Zandile. She won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for her part in that play. With that achievement, she then co-composed the play Eden and Other Places and Women of Africa with Barney Simon.[1] Meanwhile, she visited UK and USA with Malcolm Purkey’s melodic ‘Marabi’. In 1998, she got the advantage to sing “Cheerful Birthday” tune for then-president Nelson Mandela at his 80th birthday celebration in Washington DC. The melody was communicated live on CNN.

Notwithstanding, she got mainstream with the 1986 TV sitcom Sgudi ‘Snaysi with the job ‘Thoko’. In 1988, she showed up as the female lead in Mapantsula. The film was granted as the Best New Film at the Cannes Film Festival that year. In 1999, she co-composed the one-lady play A Woman in Waiting. The play depended on Thambi’s reality and it was played at Joseph Paps Theater in New York. The play later won the Fringe First at Edinburgh Festival. In 2001, the play was played in New Ambassador Theater, London, and later in South Africa, Tunisia, Canada, the US, and Bermuda Island.In 1999, Thembi won Best Actress Award at The Carthage Festival in Tunisia. She later made a radio rendition of the play for BBC 4 and won Sony Gold Award in 2002.

In 2002, she got together with the TV sitcom Stokvel with the job ‘Hazel’. She was subsequently assigned for International Emmy Award in 2004 for this role.In 2002, she was selected in the class of African Excellence in Entertainment and Arts at Tribute Achievers Awards Ceremony. In 2006, Thembi got together with the global creation Truth In Translation coordinated by an American chief Michael Lessac. The play was opened in Rwanda and has later acted in the US, Europe, and Africa just as at Baxter Theater Center in 2007. In 2009, she got the Lifetime Achievement Award of City of Durban and the KwaZulu-Natal Province. She at that point got Lifetime to grant from Arts and Culture Trust in 2015.

In November 2019, Thembi was respected with The Living Legend Award at National Black Theater Festival in North Carolina, the USA to recognize her support of South African cinema.[1] around the same time, she featured in the widely praised creation Mother to Mother at National Black Theater Festival. The play depended on a novel by Sindiwe Magona.Magona later composed the true-to-life book ‘Theater Road: My Story is a moving record of Thembi Mtshali-Jones’, which was delivered to match with Mtshali-Jones’ 70th birthday.