He was born in 1958 in Zaire. At the age of thirteen, his family moved to Paris. As an adult he worked in the design field for ten years. When his company folded, he moved on to New York to study dance and acting, then to Los Angeles where he studied at the Playhouse of the Sunset School of Acting. Beside many supporting roles in French made-for-TV movies, he was cast in Leonce Ngabo’s Gito L’ingrat in 1991, which he also took part in directing. After receiving the award for best male lead role at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in 1993, Kumbela moved to Switzerland to begin writing films. In addition to Colis Postal (1996) — selected for the 6th NY African Film Festival — he has written screenplays for two feature films: Genisse, Princesse au pays des mille collines and Bagamoyo: Ici meurt mon coeur. He has also made several short films dealing with the complexities of Diaspora experience.