Young SA talent shines
YOU know you’re a big deal when you steal the headlines from a beauty queen – and Trevor Noah made Miss SA Liesl Laurie’s feat look as ordinary as walking to get milk and bread on a Sunday morning.
Noah’s ascent to incoming host of The Daily Show – replacing veteran Jon Stewart – makes him America’s newest (and youngest) late-night television show host and has significantly raised the bar for other South African entertainers.
But we’re a talented bunch – we could talk forever about the exploits of others including film stars Sharlto Copley and Charlize Theron, Hollywood directors Neill Blomkamp and Gavin Hood, Miss World Rolene Strauss, engineer Elon Musk, model Candice Swanepoel and sportsmen AB de Villiers, Giniel de Villiers, Thulani Serero and Kevin Anderson.
But who are the South Africans on the rise? Here are our top five: CANDICE PILLAY We’ve not even heard Rihanna’s eagerly anticipated eighth studio album, but we already know our own has contributed to it. The Pietermaritzburg-born Pillay is one of the go-to songwriters in the US (she’s written for Kelly Rowland, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera), and this week she revealed she worked on Rihanna’s latest single, Bitch Better Have My Money, and the as-yet unreleased (save for a snippet) American Oxygen. Pillay is in the studio with Dr Dre – she posted a picture to Instagram of the pair at work – saying she was “honoured to create with a legend”. LESLEY-ANN BRANDT The Cape Town-born actress who has starred in various shows including Spartacus, The Librarians and the hit HBO series Being Mary Jane, has landed a new gig. It was announced last month she would join Fox’s Lucifer. She will play the role of Maze, who is Lucifer’s BFF and a fierce demon in the form of a beautiful young woman. JOHNNY APPLE The teen sensation is so young one almost refuses to believe that big, compelling voice is his. The SA’s Got Talent 2013 victor is currently touring with One Direction during their South African leg of their On The Road Again tour. His debut self-titled album sat at number two on iTunes this week (charting higher than One Direction’s Four ).
KANDYSE CLURE
This Durban-born beauty is famous for her role in the US sci-fi series, Battlestar Galactica as Anastasia Dualla, and as Doctor Clementine Chasseur on the Netflix thriller series Hemlock Grove. Her latest venture, the fantasy film Seventh Son, sees her appearing alongside Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges, and Jason Scott Lee. GIDEON EMERY Born in the UK, but raised in South Africa and educated at St John’s College and Wits University, we’ll claim Emery as one of our own – even if he’s lived in Los Angeles for some time. Emery, who’s also starred in How To Train Your Dragon 2, will be joined by Nikolai Nikolaeff in playing two Russian brothers in the upcoming Netflix series, Daredevil . The 13-part first season premieres this month.
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