How does it feel being back on set after such a long time?
I always keep myself busy. I think it’s important to have more than one form of income as a creative, so I’ve done small bits and pieces of acting throughout Mfolozi Street or Rhythmn City, I’ve done some big international productions, Death Race and Blood Drive, two international sci-fi series in Cape Town. So I’ve constantly been under the radar but I think to come full circle back to SABC3, this time as a black female lead in a crime series drama. The challenge is exciting, I’m nervous but I did my best and I hope that’s reflective in my job.
What drew you to the character Captain Ntsiki Motshe?
I think in the political and social climate we’re living in as women in South Africa, living in fear, in constant trauma, it’s time we told our own stories, change the narrative and look at life from our own eyes and experiences. Being reflective of what it’s like to work in a male-dominated industry, what it’s like to be a career woman, a wife and mom, trying to do the best you can and to be successful in your career, to show your career is important to us as women, and why do we have to choose between career and family? So, all those wonderful topics of discussion are lived in the life of Ntsiki Motshe.
What do you like most about your character?
She’s driven, a go-getter, a groundbreaker vulnerable, tough yet feminine, ethical, she believes in doing right and is an advocate for justice. She comes from a place of pain, she has her own scars, her own history her own battles, but she delivers what’s expected and beyond when it comes to work.
With all the characters you’ve played before, do you regard this lead role as your ultimate role?
I think I’m ready. I think as much as we go look for work, the timing of work comes to you when you are ready for it. I think I got the experience, twenty years in the industry. I think emotionally I was ready and physically I was in shape too, and mentally I was ready for the role. It was God’s timing. As I said, it was not about me, and the character, it’s representative of something bigger than me, of something South African women and the industry needs as a whole.
Do you wish to feature in more series?
I love being part of something that’s pioneering, something that’s a change agent, of consciousness. I love breaking barriers, and being a pioneer. It feels good and it feels right.
What should your fans expect from your role as Ntsiki?
They should expect me honouring my craft, me being true to hard work and authenticity and telling a great story. My character tells a story of social conscious, of social change and of social bearing as black females in South Africa.
What other projects do you have lined up?
I’m always busy, I sit on the committee of SWIFT which is the South African film and television NGO that was started at the Durban International Film two years ago. And I sit on the Sisterhood Cinema and the Mentorship and Skills committee, I do a lot of work there, we just rolled out PS Aids, anti-sexual harassments and sexual harassment in workplaces as being creative in the industry and also sit on the Mentorship and Skills training. Sisterhood Cinema is a platform whereby we take school girls who don’t have access to the cinema or to really good films who are created by women for women, so that’s why I’m really busy doing when it comes to film and television. I’m the director of Sunshine Cinema, which is a solar mobile cinema, and we create carefully curated socially conscious content and we navigate through Africa telling these stories, having conversations about and changing policy about these stories.
The Docket premieres on 22 August.
