From traffic lights to spotlight

‘Pamphlet boy’ hustles hard to fulfil his dreams

STANDING at traffic lights in Johannesburg to hand out promo flyers could have discouraged actor Luzuko Nteleko to not follow his dream‚ but instead he used the money to hustle harder until he found his way to live out his acting passion.

Speaking to the Daily Dispatch about his come-up story‚ Nteleko explained that he was indecisive about what he wanted to do with his life after high school‚ and that it took a few detours for him to find his calling.

“My sister hooked me up with some promotion company where I would hand out flyers. I was the pamphlet guy‚ and because I would greet and smile‚ people would always take my flyers. I would get R25 an hour for that‚ but as I continued I realised it wasn’t enough for me to make rent each month.

Looking at the other dropouts in his hometown‚ he knew he didn’t want to end up like them and left home at the age of 19 after realising he can hustle better if he lived in Johannesburg.

“I moved to Johannesburg where I eventually found what I wanted to do,” Nteleko said.

The 33-year-old actor has seven siblings and said even after dropping out of school‚ he couldn’t stand being unable to help his family‚ but also knew he was destined for bigger things.

“I knew for sure that I didn’t want to be a pamphlet boy forever. So I used the money to pay for lessons at the Windybrow Theatre. And so my journey in acting began there. I knew I loved it and I prayed and said‚ ‘God this is what I want to do for the rest of my life’.”

Nteleko said despite having fallen in love with acting and having started etching his name in the industry‚ he realised that acting wouldn’t be enough to sustain him and his family.

The actor said he now owns an events company and eventually went to study to learn how to DJ‚ so that he could stop outsourcing when he’s hosting events.

“I love acting and I can’t see myself doing anything else. I used to be offended back in the day when people would ask me‚ ‘so‚ what else do you do besides acting?’

“But I realised that I had to be realistic. Acting is an amazing art‚ but it is not as profitable as it is in the US. So I had to teach myself to create other revenue streams.” — DDC