Women in Motion Spotlight: Masali Baduza
Aza Lithalethu Mbovane
Aza Lithalethu Mbovane
Masali Baduza is a South African actress best known for her role as Sephy Hadley in the BBC drama “Noughts and Crosses”. Masali’s discipline is rooted in theatre. She also trained at the Los Angeles campus of the New York Film Academy, graduating with an Associate degree in 2016. She also appears in the crime thriller “Trackers”, which was M-Net’s top performing show in 2019.
Masali meets us digitally on a Friday, elated that the week is coming to a close. Finding a suitable time to speak with her was a blessing. It was challenging finding a time that worked with her complex schedule. And this effort was not done in vain. Her energy, as an individual, is luminescent. She speaks optimistically and graciously. We exchange brief greetings and feelings about the day before diving right into the questions.
Who is Masali? How do you describe yourself?
I would describe myself as a South African woman. I am an actor, I am a storyteller, I’m a daughter, I am a friend, I am a sister. Through my storytelling and the position I’ve been given so early in my career, I try to uplift voices that have yet to be uplifted. I try to uplift women, black women, dark-skinned black women — especially African women. That’s what I mean to do with my career. Yeah, that’s me!
What sparked your passion for acting?
I grew up as the last born in a big family of six, and there was a big age gap between me and my next sibling. And, in a way, I grew up as an only child. So I grew up quite shy, introverted, reserved, and when I did drama in school, it allowed me to express myself in a way that I really resonated with. It allowed me to have experiences that I would have never had in my own life, and also allowed me to express all of these emotions that I had that I didn’t have the vocabulary to use for myself. I think drama school, in the classroom, is what ignited me to become an actor. Also, just being inspired by the things I would watch on TV. I grew up watching Half and Half, and Girlfriends, and I’m so grateful for those shows because they allowed me to see myself on TV which is not a common thing, even today. So yeah, those things inspired me as well as a love for expressing myself.
With that being said, how do you personally differentiate between theatre, film and television? Is there one that you prefer over the other? Do you feel like they are all the same?
The common theme with all of them is that you’re basically telling a story. That’s the essence of it. But with different mediums comes different levels of control. So, I love theatre so much because, at the end of the day, it’s the actor on stage and the audience — that’s the relationship that film and TV [doesn’t have]. And it’s harder to get that relationship with film and TV because film and TV acting is basically to the camera to your audience, so you can’t really see or feel your audience. In theatre, they’re right there and you feel their energy in the room. And I would say that I enjoy theatre the most because there’s that energy you don’t really get on set. But I do it all! I’ve worked on TV, I’ve worked in film, I’ve worked in theatre, but yeah, theatre is my favourite. But the cool thing about film and TV is that you get to reach a wider audience, which is great when you want to tell stories that haven’t been told before. People get to see and also engage with it. I think that TV and film is more accessible than theatre, which is really sad, because theatre is such an important art form. I pray we don’t ever lose it because it is so special.
It really is! And a lot of people in film and TV start off in theatre, and then branch off into film. But it’s so great having that return to theatre and remembering what you loved so much and one’s connection with the audience. And everyone’s just connecting with one another — it’s really cool. — You were named “Rising Star” and “One to Watch” by the Royal Television Society. So, do you always feel the pressure to live up to that? Do you think about it every day, as you walk, and let it influence how you work?
Oh wow! I haven’t thought about that in so long! You’re bringing back a blast from the past. Yho, no I don’t think about that everyday. It would consume me. I just try to go after and do the things that fulfill me, not only as an actor but as a person. So the scripts that I read and that I enjoy are fresh, are new and they’re things I’ve never seen on TV before. Oh my God, I can’t! I can’t walk everyday and remember that! But it was really great for them to say that, so I thank them.
How did you position yourself within a global scale so early in your career? Was it something you’ve always wanted and you were walking towards it, or was it luck? What did that look like?
I always say this: I think that being in this industry is 80 percent hard work and then 20 percent luck. You have to put in the work and you have to go to the auditions and you have to put yourself out there. There’s a part of it that’s out of your control, and that’s what happened to me when I got my first big international role [which was Noughts and Crosses]. I wasn’t trying to work in film and TV so much actually. I was more focused on theatre. I was working with what used to be the Grahamstown Theatre Festival, and I was working as a stage manager. And I was having so much fun doing that! I thought, Yeah, maybe I could do this!I was experiencing theatre in a completely different light and I was really enjoying that. And then, I had a self tape audition for Noughts and Crosses, and I was like, Okay yeah, I’ll do it, but I’m just really focused on what I’m doing. And that’s what worked for me, and that’s how I approached my career. You have to be a jack of all trades. You can do a lot of things and then it [the big break] will find you. I don’t know! I feel like that’s such an airy fairy thing to say, but it’s true. When you least expect it, the things you really want will come to you. And I’ve always wanted a career internationally, because I went to school in LA and I was exposed to so much and I knew I wanted to get back to LA eventually. But yeah, a lot of it came down to being in the right place at the right time with the right people telling the story that needed to be told at that time.
What are the goals that you’d still like to reach? Or are you always where you’ve wanted to be?
It’s so interesting because you have these goals set up for yourself, and then you reach them, and then you get a new goal or a new dream. And that’s what I’ve been experiencing lately. Working on Noughts and Crosses was amazing! You know, an international job that was great, and then I was like, “Okay cool, this is amazing. Now what am I going to do next?” Working with Viola Davis — I couldn’t even imagine that! It’s a dream, and you don’t know it’s possible until it happens. And that, for me, was like, “Oh, okay! I’m done! I’ve worked with the best actor of our time!” (Laughs) But now I have new goals in me wanting to start a production company and — there’s so much more that you can dream about but you almost don’t know that you can get there until you get that dream that you had wanted. I definitely have big dreams and goals, but I am definitely proud of where I am so early in my career. Yeah, it’s really cool.
No, it’s really amazing! And I hope you don’t mind, but we’re going to get a bit dark here. What challenges do you face as a Black woman — on top of that, a dark skinned Black woman — in this industry?
How much time do we have? (Laughs) Because girl! Wow. It’s not easy. There are so many challenges. There are challenges from the people that you work with; I’ve had really great directors but also terrible directors who don’t know how to engage with young Black women, or they struggle to uplift them. I think it comes really naturally and easily to uplift certain groups of people, but when it comes to Black women people somehow get disrespectful and don’t see our value. And that’s the battle that I’m currently facing. I’m fighting to be valued and I’m fighting to be seen and I’m fighting to have my work respected. And I’ll add that being a (South) African actress in the global industry is very, very difficult because a lot of people still have preconceived notions and stereotypes of how to treat African people. And that is a struggle I wasn’t fully prepared for or aware of. We struggle to be seen with the same respect for doing the same work as everyone else and we’re struggling to be valued the same. It’s crazy. But yeah, those are the biggest for me right now. And I do think we’ll get to a place where we don’t have to fight for such things anymore but I am very happy to fight the fight and speak on it, because if we don’t nothing will change.
The way that you speak about your journey really reflects that you’re so confident in your creative voice! Do you think that you’re confident in your creative voice, or do you think you’ve grown into being confident about your creative voice?
Wow! Thank you. Thank you for that. It’s really interesting to see how I am perceived because I don’t feel that way. With my work and my experiences in this industry, I am very passionate about what needs to change. And what’s amazing about it as well is that there are so many great things in which I’ve been able to experience. Gosh, it’s such a journey. I’ve learnt that, within my career so far, I have to speak on it. Maybe that’s a decision that won’t help in the long run, but right now I just feel like I am given this microphone for a reason and I want to just speak on things.
You are given the opportunity to have a three course meal with three different actors/creatives. Who would you have as your starter, who would you have as your main course and then who would you have as your dessert?
Viola Davis was always one of them, for any type of question like this, so she will always be there! But because I have met her, I need to think of other people. But she’s great, she’s amazing, she’s phenomenal. My starter … I think … I would want to choose someone up and coming … Okay, she really isn’t up and coming but I would love to speak to Keke Palmer right now because I feel like she has been working for so long and she has done so much and she is an icon, and I would just like to know what this experience is like for her — being thrust into mainstream media and having done so much but only now some people are catching up onto her. And she’s worked on so many different sets all over the world. I would just love to know what her experiences as a Black woman in the industry are. My main course … this person and I would be speaking for the longest time because it’s a big and hearty meal … My main course would be Nicole Beharie because she is one of the greatest actresses of our time. I think she is criminally underrated and I would just love to talk to her about her process, and how she gets into characters and how she is able to be so vulnerable and real on-screen, and play strength in such a quiet and subtle way. And my dessert … hm, a fun one … who would I want to talk to? … You know what? I’d probably want to talk to Daniel Kaluuya because I just feel like — (Laughs) As a fellow Pisces, I’d just like to get inside his head a little bit and figure out how he’s so amazing!
We talk a lot about the hardships in the industry, but I just want to know, in your opinion, what’s the best thing about being a Black woman in the industry?
Oh my Gosh. There are so many great things about being a Black woman period, but in the industry … I don’t know! This is an interesting one. I think the space that we’ve recently been able to take up and reclaim is pretty cool. I enjoy seeing Black women being authentically themselves in this industry. I’ve only been in the industry for a couple of years, but I think this place is new and in the past, Black women have not been able to show up authentically as themselves in these predominantly white, male spaces. But now, there’s this freedom that we have and that’s really fun. Working on Woman King and being surrounded by so many Black women just felt — it was just fun man! It was just comfortable. It was great.
The last question is: are you picky with the roles that you choose? And if so, what’s the biggest thing you want people to take away from your catalogue?
I mean, I’m just starting. I don’t think I can afford to be picky. I’m very grateful for the role that I’ve been able to play because they’ve been very important and monumental. Not just for me, but for people around me and, to an extent, people in general. I can’t say enough how lucky I’ve been. So yeah, I don’t think I’m picky, but I do think the stars have aligned in the roles that I’ve been able to portray. I would like to continue doing that and — you know what? I want to bring rom coms back! I’ve been in this phase where I have been watching a lot of rom coms and we need more rom coms with dark skinned Black women. We need to recreate the genre! That’s a role I’d love to play.
Masali Baduza is a South African actress best known for her role as Sephy Hadley in the BBC drama “Noughts and Crosses”. Masali’s discipline is rooted in theatre. She also trained at the Los Angeles campus of the New York Film Academy, graduating with an Associate degree in 2016. She also appears in the crime thriller “Trackers”, which was M-Net’s top performing show in 2019.
Masali meets us digitally on a Friday, elated that the week is coming to a close. Finding a suitable time to speak with her was a blessing. It was challenging finding a time that worked with her complex schedule. And this effort was not done in vain. Her energy, as an individual, is luminescent. She speaks optimistically and graciously. We exchange brief greetings and feelings about the day before diving right into the questions.
Who is Masali? How do you describe yourself?
I would describe myself as a South African woman. I am an actor, I am a storyteller, I’m a daughter, I am a friend, I am a sister. Through my storytelling and the position I’ve been given so early in my career, I try to uplift voices that have yet to be uplifted. I try to uplift women, black women, dark-skinned black women — especially African women. That’s what I mean to do with my career. Yeah, that’s me!
What sparked your passion for acting?
I grew up as the last born in a big family of six, and there was a big age gap between me and my next sibling. And, in a way, I grew up as an only child. So I grew up quite shy, introverted, reserved, and when I did drama in school, it allowed me to express myself in a way that I really resonated with. It allowed me to have experiences that I would have never had in my own life, and also allowed me to express all of these emotions that I had that I didn’t have the vocabulary to use for myself. I think drama school, in the classroom, is what ignited me to become an actor. Also, just being inspired by the things I would watch on TV. I grew up watching Half and Half, and Girlfriends, and I’m so grateful for those shows because they allowed me to see myself on TV which is not a common thing, even today. So yeah, those things inspired me as well as a love for expressing myself.
With that being said, how do you personally differentiate between theatre, film and television? Is there one that you prefer over the other? Do you feel like they are all the same?
The common theme with all of them is that you’re basically telling a story. That’s the essence of it. But with different mediums comes different levels of control. So, I love theatre so much because, at the end of the day, it’s the actor on stage and the audience — that’s the relationship that film and TV [doesn’t have]. And it’s harder to get that relationship with film and TV because film and TV acting is basically to the camera to your audience, so you can’t really see or feel your audience. In theatre, they’re right there and you feel their energy in the room. And I would say that I enjoy theatre the most because there’s that energy you don’t really get on set. But I do it all! I’ve worked on TV, I’ve worked in film, I’ve worked in theatre, but yeah, theatre is my favourite. But the cool thing about film and TV is that you get to reach a wider audience, which is great when you want to tell stories that haven’t been told before. People get to see and also engage with it. I think that TV and film is more accessible than theatre, which is really sad, because theatre is such an important art form. I pray we don’t ever lose it because it is so special.
It really is! And a lot of people in film and TV start off in theatre, and then branch off into film. But it’s so great having that return to theatre and remembering what you loved so much and one’s connection with the audience. And everyone’s just connecting with one another — it’s really cool. — You were named “Rising Star” and “One to Watch” by the Royal Television Society. So, do you always feel the pressure to live up to that? Do you think about it every day, as you walk, and let it influence how you work?
Oh wow! I haven’t thought about that in so long! You’re bringing back a blast from the past. Yho, no I don’t think about that everyday. It would consume me. I just try to go after and do the things that fulfill me, not only as an actor but as a person. So the scripts that I read and that I enjoy are fresh, are new and they’re things I’ve never seen on TV before. Oh my God, I can’t! I can’t walk everyday and remember that! But it was really great for them to say that, so I thank them.
How did you position yourself within a global scale so early in your career? Was it something you’ve always wanted and you were walking towards it, or was it luck? What did that look like?
I always say this: I think that being in this industry is 80 percent hard work and then 20 percent luck. You have to put in the work and you have to go to the auditions and you have to put yourself out there. There’s a part of it that’s out of your control, and that’s what happened to me when I got my first big international role [which was Noughts and Crosses]. I wasn’t trying to work in film and TV so much actually. I was more focused on theatre. I was working with what used to be the Grahamstown Theatre Festival, and I was working as a stage manager. And I was having so much fun doing that! I thought, Yeah, maybe I could do this!I was experiencing theatre in a completely different light and I was really enjoying that. And then, I had a self tape audition for Noughts and Crosses, and I was like, Okay yeah, I’ll do it, but I’m just really focused on what I’m doing. And that’s what worked for me, and that’s how I approached my career. You have to be a jack of all trades. You can do a lot of things and then it [the big break] will find you. I don’t know! I feel like that’s such an airy fairy thing to say, but it’s true. When you least expect it, the things you really want will come to you. And I’ve always wanted a career internationally, because I went to school in LA and I was exposed to so much and I knew I wanted to get back to LA eventually. But yeah, a lot of it came down to being in the right place at the right time with the right people telling the story that needed to be told at that time.
What are the goals that you’d still like to reach? Or are you always where you’ve wanted to be?
It’s so interesting because you have these goals set up for yourself, and then you reach them, and then you get a new goal or a new dream. And that’s what I’ve been experiencing lately. Working on Noughts and Crosses was amazing! You know, an international job that was great, and then I was like, “Okay cool, this is amazing. Now what am I going to do next?” Working with Viola Davis — I couldn’t even imagine that! It’s a dream, and you don’t know it’s possible until it happens. And that, for me, was like, “Oh, okay! I’m done! I’ve worked with the best actor of our time!” (Laughs) But now I have new goals in me wanting to start a production company and — there’s so much more that you can dream about but you almost don’t know that you can get there until you get that dream that you had wanted. I definitely have big dreams and goals, but I am definitely proud of where I am so early in my career. Yeah, it’s really cool.
No, it’s really amazing! And I hope you don’t mind, but we’re going to get a bit dark here. What challenges do you face as a Black woman — on top of that, a dark skinned Black woman — in this industry?
How much time do we have? (Laughs) Because girl! Wow. It’s not easy. There are so many challenges. There are challenges from the people that you work with; I’ve had really great directors but also terrible directors who don’t know how to engage with young Black women, or they struggle to uplift them. I think it comes really naturally and easily to uplift certain groups of people, but when it comes to Black women people somehow get disrespectful and don’t see our value. And that’s the battle that I’m currently facing. I’m fighting to be valued and I’m fighting to be seen and I’m fighting to have my work respected. And I’ll add that being a (South) African actress in the global industry is very, very difficult because a lot of people still have preconceived notions and stereotypes of how to treat African people. And that is a struggle I wasn’t fully prepared for or aware of. We struggle to be seen with the same respect for doing the same work as everyone else and we’re struggling to be valued the same. It’s crazy. But yeah, those are the biggest for me right now. And I do think we’ll get to a place where we don’t have to fight for such things anymore but I am very happy to fight the fight and speak on it, because if we don’t nothing will change.
The way that you speak about your journey really reflects that you’re so confident in your creative voice! Do you think that you’re confident in your creative voice, or do you think you’ve grown into being confident about your creative voice?
Wow! Thank you. Thank you for that. It’s really interesting to see how I am perceived because I don’t feel that way. With my work and my experiences in this industry, I am very passionate about what needs to change. And what’s amazing about it as well is that there are so many great things in which I’ve been able to experience. Gosh, it’s such a journey. I’ve learnt that, within my career so far, I have to speak on it. Maybe that’s a decision that won’t help in the long run, but right now I just feel like I am given this microphone for a reason and I want to just speak on things.
You are given the opportunity to have a three course meal with three different actors/creatives. Who would you have as your starter, who would you have as your main course and then who would you have as your dessert?
Viola Davis was always one of them, for any type of question like this, so she will always be there! But because I have met her, I need to think of other people. But she’s great, she’s amazing, she’s phenomenal. My starter … I think … I would want to choose someone up and coming … Okay, she really isn’t up and coming but I would love to speak to Keke Palmer right now because I feel like she has been working for so long and she has done so much and she is an icon, and I would just like to know what this experience is like for her — being thrust into mainstream media and having done so much but only now some people are catching up onto her. And she’s worked on so many different sets all over the world. I would just love to know what her experiences as a Black woman in the industry are. My main course … this person and I would be speaking for the longest time because it’s a big and hearty meal … My main course would be Nicole Beharie because she is one of the greatest actresses of our time. I think she is criminally underrated and I would just love to talk to her about her process, and how she gets into characters and how she is able to be so vulnerable and real on-screen, and play strength in such a quiet and subtle way. And my dessert … hm, a fun one … who would I want to talk to? … You know what? I’d probably want to talk to Daniel Kaluuya because I just feel like — (Laughs) As a fellow Pisces, I’d just like to get inside his head a little bit and figure out how he’s so amazing!
We talk a lot about the hardships in the industry, but I just want to know, in your opinion, what’s the best thing about being a Black woman in the industry?
Oh my Gosh. There are so many great things about being a Black woman period, but in the industry … I don’t know! This is an interesting one. I think the space that we’ve recently been able to take up and reclaim is pretty cool. I enjoy seeing Black women being authentically themselves in this industry. I’ve only been in the industry for a couple of years, but I think this place is new and in the past, Black women have not been able to show up authentically as themselves in these predominantly white, male spaces. But now, there’s this freedom that we have and that’s really fun. Working on Woman King and being surrounded by so many Black women just felt — it was just fun man! It was just comfortable. It was great.
The last question is: are you picky with the roles that you choose? And if so, what’s the biggest thing you want people to take away from your catalogue?
I mean, I’m just starting. I don’t think I can afford to be picky. I’m very grateful for the role that I’ve been able to play because they’ve been very important and monumental. Not just for me, but for people around me and, to an extent, people in general. I can’t say enough how lucky I’ve been. So yeah, I don’t think I’m picky, but I do think the stars have aligned in the roles that I’ve been able to portray. I would like to continue doing that and — you know what? I want to bring rom coms back! I’ve been in this phase where I have been watching a lot of rom coms and we need more rom coms with dark skinned Black women. We need to recreate the genre! That’s a role I’d love to play.
Masali Baduza is a South African actress best known for her role as Sephy Hadley in the BBC drama “Noughts and Crosses”. Masali’s discipline is rooted in theatre. She also trained at the Los Angeles campus of the New York Film Academy, graduating with an Associate degree in 2016. She also appears in the crime thriller “Trackers”, which was M-Net’s top performing show in 2019.
Masali meets us digitally on a Friday, elated that the week is coming to a close. Finding a suitable time to speak with her was a blessing. It was challenging finding a time that worked with her complex schedule. And this effort was not done in vain. Her energy, as an individual, is luminescent. She speaks optimistically and graciously. We exchange brief greetings and feelings about the day before diving right into the questions.
Who is Masali? How do you describe yourself?
I would describe myself as a South African woman. I am an actor, I am a storyteller, I’m a daughter, I am a friend, I am a sister. Through my storytelling and the position I’ve been given so early in my career, I try to uplift voices that have yet to be uplifted. I try to uplift women, black women, dark-skinned black women — especially African women. That’s what I mean to do with my career. Yeah, that’s me!
What sparked your passion for acting?
I grew up as the last born in a big family of six, and there was a big age gap between me and my next sibling. And, in a way, I grew up as an only child. So I grew up quite shy, introverted, reserved, and when I did drama in school, it allowed me to express myself in a way that I really resonated with. It allowed me to have experiences that I would have never had in my own life, and also allowed me to express all of these emotions that I had that I didn’t have the vocabulary to use for myself. I think drama school, in the classroom, is what ignited me to become an actor. Also, just being inspired by the things I would watch on TV. I grew up watching Half and Half, and Girlfriends, and I’m so grateful for those shows because they allowed me to see myself on TV which is not a common thing, even today. So yeah, those things inspired me as well as a love for expressing myself.
With that being said, how do you personally differentiate between theatre, film and television? Is there one that you prefer over the other? Do you feel like they are all the same?
The common theme with all of them is that you’re basically telling a story. That’s the essence of it. But with different mediums comes different levels of control. So, I love theatre so much because, at the end of the day, it’s the actor on stage and the audience — that’s the relationship that film and TV [doesn’t have]. And it’s harder to get that relationship with film and TV because film and TV acting is basically to the camera to your audience, so you can’t really see or feel your audience. In theatre, they’re right there and you feel their energy in the room. And I would say that I enjoy theatre the most because there’s that energy you don’t really get on set. But I do it all! I’ve worked on TV, I’ve worked in film, I’ve worked in theatre, but yeah, theatre is my favourite. But the cool thing about film and TV is that you get to reach a wider audience, which is great when you want to tell stories that haven’t been told before. People get to see and also engage with it. I think that TV and film is more accessible than theatre, which is really sad, because theatre is such an important art form. I pray we don’t ever lose it because it is so special.
It really is! And a lot of people in film and TV start off in theatre, and then branch off into film. But it’s so great having that return to theatre and remembering what you loved so much and one’s connection with the audience. And everyone’s just connecting with one another — it’s really cool. — You were named “Rising Star” and “One to Watch” by the Royal Television Society. So, do you always feel the pressure to live up to that? Do you think about it every day, as you walk, and let it influence how you work?
Oh wow! I haven’t thought about that in so long! You’re bringing back a blast from the past. Yho, no I don’t think about that everyday. It would consume me. I just try to go after and do the things that fulfill me, not only as an actor but as a person. So the scripts that I read and that I enjoy are fresh, are new and they’re things I’ve never seen on TV before. Oh my God, I can’t! I can’t walk everyday and remember that! But it was really great for them to say that, so I thank them.
How did you position yourself within a global scale so early in your career? Was it something you’ve always wanted and you were walking towards it, or was it luck? What did that look like?
I always say this: I think that being in this industry is 80 percent hard work and then 20 percent luck. You have to put in the work and you have to go to the auditions and you have to put yourself out there. There’s a part of it that’s out of your control, and that’s what happened to me when I got my first big international role [which was Noughts and Crosses]. I wasn’t trying to work in film and TV so much actually. I was more focused on theatre. I was working with what used to be the Grahamstown Theatre Festival, and I was working as a stage manager. And I was having so much fun doing that! I thought, Yeah, maybe I could do this!I was experiencing theatre in a completely different light and I was really enjoying that. And then, I had a self tape audition for Noughts and Crosses, and I was like, Okay yeah, I’ll do it, but I’m just really focused on what I’m doing. And that’s what worked for me, and that’s how I approached my career. You have to be a jack of all trades. You can do a lot of things and then it [the big break] will find you. I don’t know! I feel like that’s such an airy fairy thing to say, but it’s true. When you least expect it, the things you really want will come to you. And I’ve always wanted a career internationally, because I went to school in LA and I was exposed to so much and I knew I wanted to get back to LA eventually. But yeah, a lot of it came down to being in the right place at the right time with the right people telling the story that needed to be told at that time.
What are the goals that you’d still like to reach? Or are you always where you’ve wanted to be?
It’s so interesting because you have these goals set up for yourself, and then you reach them, and then you get a new goal or a new dream. And that’s what I’ve been experiencing lately. Working on Noughts and Crosses was amazing! You know, an international job that was great, and then I was like, “Okay cool, this is amazing. Now what am I going to do next?” Working with Viola Davis — I couldn’t even imagine that! It’s a dream, and you don’t know it’s possible until it happens. And that, for me, was like, “Oh, okay! I’m done! I’ve worked with the best actor of our time!” (Laughs) But now I have new goals in me wanting to start a production company and — there’s so much more that you can dream about but you almost don’t know that you can get there until you get that dream that you had wanted. I definitely have big dreams and goals, but I am definitely proud of where I am so early in my career. Yeah, it’s really cool.
No, it’s really amazing! And I hope you don’t mind, but we’re going to get a bit dark here. What challenges do you face as a Black woman — on top of that, a dark skinned Black woman — in this industry?
How much time do we have? (Laughs) Because girl! Wow. It’s not easy. There are so many challenges. There are challenges from the people that you work with; I’ve had really great directors but also terrible directors who don’t know how to engage with young Black women, or they struggle to uplift them. I think it comes really naturally and easily to uplift certain groups of people, but when it comes to Black women people somehow get disrespectful and don’t see our value. And that’s the battle that I’m currently facing. I’m fighting to be valued and I’m fighting to be seen and I’m fighting to have my work respected. And I’ll add that being a (South) African actress in the global industry is very, very difficult because a lot of people still have preconceived notions and stereotypes of how to treat African people. And that is a struggle I wasn’t fully prepared for or aware of. We struggle to be seen with the same respect for doing the same work as everyone else and we’re struggling to be valued the same. It’s crazy. But yeah, those are the biggest for me right now. And I do think we’ll get to a place where we don’t have to fight for such things anymore but I am very happy to fight the fight and speak on it, because if we don’t nothing will change.
The way that you speak about your journey really reflects that you’re so confident in your creative voice! Do you think that you’re confident in your creative voice, or do you think you’ve grown into being confident about your creative voice?
Wow! Thank you. Thank you for that. It’s really interesting to see how I am perceived because I don’t feel that way. With my work and my experiences in this industry, I am very passionate about what needs to change. And what’s amazing about it as well is that there are so many great things in which I’ve been able to experience. Gosh, it’s such a journey. I’ve learnt that, within my career so far, I have to speak on it. Maybe that’s a decision that won’t help in the long run, but right now I just feel like I am given this microphone for a reason and I want to just speak on things.
You are given the opportunity to have a three course meal with three different actors/creatives. Who would you have as your starter, who would you have as your main course and then who would you have as your dessert?
Viola Davis was always one of them, for any type of question like this, so she will always be there! But because I have met her, I need to think of other people. But she’s great, she’s amazing, she’s phenomenal. My starter … I think … I would want to choose someone up and coming … Okay, she really isn’t up and coming but I would love to speak to Keke Palmer right now because I feel like she has been working for so long and she has done so much and she is an icon, and I would just like to know what this experience is like for her — being thrust into mainstream media and having done so much but only now some people are catching up onto her. And she’s worked on so many different sets all over the world. I would just love to know what her experiences as a Black woman in the industry are. My main course … this person and I would be speaking for the longest time because it’s a big and hearty meal … My main course would be Nicole Beharie because she is one of the greatest actresses of our time. I think she is criminally underrated and I would just love to talk to her about her process, and how she gets into characters and how she is able to be so vulnerable and real on-screen, and play strength in such a quiet and subtle way. And my dessert … hm, a fun one … who would I want to talk to? … You know what? I’d probably want to talk to Daniel Kaluuya because I just feel like — (Laughs) As a fellow Pisces, I’d just like to get inside his head a little bit and figure out how he’s so amazing!
We talk a lot about the hardships in the industry, but I just want to know, in your opinion, what’s the best thing about being a Black woman in the industry?
Oh my Gosh. There are so many great things about being a Black woman period, but in the industry … I don’t know! This is an interesting one. I think the space that we’ve recently been able to take up and reclaim is pretty cool. I enjoy seeing Black women being authentically themselves in this industry. I’ve only been in the industry for a couple of years, but I think this place is new and in the past, Black women have not been able to show up authentically as themselves in these predominantly white, male spaces. But now, there’s this freedom that we have and that’s really fun. Working on Woman King and being surrounded by so many Black women just felt — it was just fun man! It was just comfortable. It was great.
The last question is: are you picky with the roles that you choose? And if so, what’s the biggest thing you want people to take away from your catalogue?
I mean, I’m just starting. I don’t think I can afford to be picky. I’m very grateful for the role that I’ve been able to play because they’ve been very important and monumental. Not just for me, but for people around me and, to an extent, people in general. I can’t say enough how lucky I’ve been. So yeah, I don’t think I’m picky, but I do think the stars have aligned in the roles that I’ve been able to portray. I would like to continue doing that and — you know what? I want to bring rom coms back! I’ve been in this phase where I have been watching a lot of rom coms and we need more rom coms with dark skinned Black women. We need to recreate the genre! That’s a role I’d love to play.