Star says he’s a ‘softie’ in real life
And isn’t out to steal other men’s women
RHYTHM City actor Mduduzi Mabaso is known for playing the role of dodgy club owner‚ Suffocate on the popular e.tv soapie‚ but the star is nothing like his character.
Mabaso said it made him uncomfortable that people assumed he wanted to encroach on their territory or steal their women.
The former Yizo Yizo star said he had played several roles on TV but always seemed to be cast as a gangster‚ when he was in reality a “softie”.
“I am very soft. Most of the characters I have played are hardcore township characters and I am not like that. I guess first impressions stick because my first roles on TV were playing those kind of characters.”
He said the assumptions people had about him had led to some uncomfortable experiences.
“You know when you get to a place and you find a guy with his girl and someone just comes to you‚ before you even greet anyone or the people you came to see‚ and says: ‘make sure you know where you are going. Don’t step on toes. Don’t talk to my woman’.
“They think that I am going to steal their woman and that is the problem. I am not in the space of stealing anybody’s woman. You end up not being comfortable and not talk to any woman because you are not sure which one is his. I find that most of the time‚” he said.
Mduduzi said he would relish the opportunity to show off his acting skills in a different kind of role.
“I was brought up in theatre and even though I have played gangsters on TV‚ I have played many different roles in theatre and I would love to play something different on screens.”
He also hoped to soon move behind the screens and write a film script based on the story of a friend he grew up with in Alexandra‚ Johannesburg.
“I don’t want to give my story away yet but it is a story of hope and love and growing up in the township. It will be based around a man who has lived most of his life in the area without realising that things at home are not as they seem.” — DDR