[1][2] Born and raised in Zaire, now present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kabongo immigrated to Canada and began his acting career as an extra before achieving recognition for his performance as the lead protagonist in the Toronto-based web series Teenagers (2014–2017), for which he earned his first Canadian Screen Award nomination.

[1] Kabongo subsequently became known for his performances in the CBC Television series 21 Thunder (2017) and Frankie Drake Mysteries (2017–2018) and in films such as The Animal Project (2013), Antibirth (2016), and Brown Girl Begins (2017).

He played a gladiator in Paul W. S. Anderson's Pompeii (2014) and has guest-starred in television series such as Murdoch Mysteries (2013) and Star Trek: Discovery (2020).

[6] Before he began pursuing acting, Kabongo worked several jobs, including at a daycare, a Foot Locker, at the Canadian National Exhibition, and vacuuming floors and cleaning toilets at a train station.

Kabongo began his acting career in 2009, appearing in a little seen short film,[6][7] before seeking out work as an extra on Canadian television series such as Nikita and Flashpoint.

[10]Throughout the 2010s, Kabongo guest-starred in a variety of television programs, including Call Me Fitz (2012), Murdoch Mysteries (2013), Rookie Blue (2013–2014), and Quantico (2015).

[1][2][14] In 2013, Murray approached Kabongo with the scripts and asked him to help produce the series; they subsequently cast the rest of the characters together using only actors from Toronto.

[1][15] Louis Chunovic of Playback published a piece on the series, writing that "the young creators of Teenagers had to have plenty of luck, pluck, talent, and grit to get this far.

[22] That year, he also played a supporting role in Antibirth, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released on September 2, 2016 in the U.S., by IFC Midnight.

[26] Also that year, Kabongo appeared in three episodes of the CBC series Frankie Drake Mysteries as a boxer named Moses,[27] and he starred opposite Mouna Traoré in Brown Girl Begins, a post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Sharon Lewis.

"[45] Kabongo has cited Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Mahershala Ali, Viola Davis, and Daniel Day-Lewis as acting inspirations.