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VERSATILE star Sibulele Gcilitshana credits the success of the drama series to the enormously talented cast members.
In the Sunday nights Mzansi Magic series Gcilitshana (37), a theatre and television actress, a singer and dancer plays Lulama Moloiswa, a young woman from a middle-class family.
But all is not rosy after she loses her child, then watches her marriage crumble.
Season two kicked off with the battle for supremacy between the Khumalos and Moloiswas, after a season one cliff-hanger that saw leading lady Phindi (played by Nompilo Gwala) being kidnapped, the return of a long-lost father and a domineering matriarch at odds with her shattered family.
I mean with the kind of talent that surrounds me I can’t put a foot wrong,” said Gcilitshana about the star-studded cast that includes multi-award winning actress Nthathi Moshesh in a leading role as Mamohato Khumalo. Other seasoned actors on the show are Tumisho Masha, S’dumo Mtshali, Siya Radebe and Thuso Mbebo.
It’s an amazing production. I’m in it not because I need employment but I’m there to do justice to the work of the production team and that of my great co-actors.”
Gcilitshana’s passion for her craft shines through when she relates her path to stardom, saying she entered the world of acting by chance.
After her matric she applied to study music at the then Technikon Pretoria where she was advised to do music theatre.
I’m from Ngqamakhwe, near eGcuwa, Butterworth in the Eastern Cape. Although both my parents are teachers, we didn’t have an inkling of what music theatre was. I was also required to perform a monologue as part of my admission requirements in 1998.
I knew nothing about what a monologue ... was.”
Now a qualified music theatre thespian, Gcilitshana has been on the box office science fiction movie
among other blockbusters. Her next movie is set for release next year. In theatre she stars in Monageng Motshabi’s
which was nominated for Best Ensemble award in the Naledi Awards this week.