Tony Nkotsi was born Johannesburg in 1955. He currently lives and works in Johannesburg. He studied art through spending Saturdays at informal art classes in Orlando, Soweto. Nkotsi enrolled in art classes at the Mofolo Art Centre where he met Dumisani Mabaso and Gordon Gabashane who had recently graduated from Rorke's Drift, who inspired him to enroll at Rorke’s Drift to study further.

Nkotsi was awarded a British Council scholarship to work at the Peacock Printmakers Studio in Aberdeen and at the Printmakers Workshop in Scotland in 1988. He has participated in many group exhibitions locally and internationally.