Carel Nel is a multi-award winning actor, known for his roles as Karl the Android in Ridley Scott's Raised by Wolves, Abraham Lincoln in Grant on The History Channel, and the Emmy-nominated Roots. He has appeared in numerous international and local films and television shows, including Blood Drive, Shepherds and Butchers, The Last Days of American Crime, Young Ones, The Endless River and Flight of the Storks, to name a few.

In 2016 and 2017 he won the Best Actor Award back-to-back at the kykNET Silwerskerm Festival, for the productions Hum and Slaaf (which he co-wrote). In 2019 he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Oedipus in Oedipus: The Musical at the same festival.

After studying Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of the Free State he relocated to Cape Town where he has been working in film, television, and theatre. He has starred in over 20 professional theatre productions, including Athol Fugard's People are Living There (nominated for Best Supporting Actor) and Die Rebellie van Lafras Verwey, for which he was awarded the coveted Fleur du Cap for Best Actor. Other theatre credits include the one-man show Slaaf (nominated for Best Solo Performance), Die Fliek, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Demon Bride, Koöperasiestories, Balbesit, The Garage Sale and Chekov's Die Kersieboord.