SCANDALOUS VIOLETTA EXITS SOAPIE WITH A BANG

PREPARE for all hell to break loose when Cindy Mahlangu exited Scandal! with a bang Friday night.

Thursday night’s nail-biting cliffhanger saw ruthless Mamba (Simo Magwaza) finally confront his wife Violetta (Mahlangu) and lover Simo (Sandile Mahlangu) about their adulterous affair.

Viewers of e.tv’s most-watched show are in for a wild ride. Mamba’s revenge will unfold like the lethal game of Russian roulette, resulting in Violetta’s death.

It’s an ending that will please frustrated fans as for the past few months they have been begging for Violetta to pay for all her plotting and conniving ways. Poisoning Simo’s poor wife Grace (Bathabile Mashigo) last week was a new low.

While Mahlangu has enjoyed playing Violetta, she admits that in the beginning she found it difficult to play such a heartless role.

“The character was very challenging for me. She’s so mean and doesn’t care about other people,” Mahlangu says.

“I had to learn not to judge the character in order for me to have fun portraying her. I judged the character from the minute I auditioned. I saw the brief and I thought, ‘not another bad character’. I just wanted to get a sweet character. I think one thing people don’t get is that I’m different to my characters.” The 24-year-old actor got the role after she departed playing bad girl Siyanda on The Queen – a role she has since reprised. Mahlangu makes it easy to love to hate her so much so that she has become the go-to mean girl for many casting directors.

Mahlangu says she opted to exit Scandal! because at the time she found it hard to juggle playing two additional roles on The Queen as well as Blood & Water. It’s a nice dilemma to have, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic when many actors are struggling to secure roles.

That is not to put a damper on Mahlangu’s deserved glory – it’s her time to shine.

“I don’t know what casting directors see in me to give me these characters, but I’ve been told that I portray mean girls very well,” Mahlangu confesses. I’m very shy in person. I’m like that quiet girl in the corner, even when we are shooting on set. I’m not one to make friends.” With the amount of big roles she has played, it comes as a surprise when Mahlangu reveals that she has been acting for three years. Before then she never had ambitions of acting, although she had an inkling that she was destined to be in front of the camera.

After high school she moved to Joburg from Standerton, Mpumalanga, to study financial accounting.

While today she is known for her banging figure as much as the villainous characters she portrays onscreen, it has not always been like that. Focusing on her studies, working on her body transformation and being a Herballife distributor became Mahlangu’s journey in the first year she relocated to the City of Gold.

“I was chubby as a child and I was bullied for being fat in high school. That taught me not to think too much about people’s views of my body,” Mahlangu says.

Her life changed when she got an audition for The River. Mahlangu didn’t get the role, but a fire ignited inside her.

After her second audition in 2018 she was cast in her breakout role in The Herd playing opposite Sello Maake Ka-Ncube and Winnie Ntshaba. “I knew absolutely nothing about acting before that role. I didn’t even know that acting was my calling,” Mahlangu says.

“Even during the audition I didn’t know how they did things. I was given the script 10 minutes before and I had to improvise.”

But it’s her role as Siyanda in The Queen that made a mark. The love triangle between Kagiso (Loyiso MacDonald), Goodness (Zenande Mfenyana) and Siyanda had viewers on the edge of their seats.

“From losing a child and being a drug addict, the rush and research of portraying Siyanda grew me as an actor,” Mahlangu says. Mahlangu also starred in Kings of Joburg late last year.

But her career highlight was being part of Netflix’s second African original series Blood & Water, joining the young cast that includes Ama Qamata, Thabang Molaba and Natasha Thahane.

“I don’t even have the words to describe what a big deal it was. I never thought I would find myself in that position, especially so early in my career. That was a dream come true,” Mahlangu says.

Raised by a single mother after her parents divorced, Mahlangu has one younger brother. “My mom is the type of person that will always tell you what she expects from you as her child. But more than anything she’s a supportive parent,” Mahlangu says.

“I do speak to my dad once in a blue moon. I can’t say anything horrible about him because he’s my father at the end of the day. But we are not that tight.”

Romance rumours with soccer star Bongani Zungu have been swirling, especially after a video clip of the Bafana Bafana player grabbing her by the neck before smooching her cheek went viral last year. But Mahlangu is a lady; she doesn’t kiss and tell. Factfile:CindyMahlangu Favouriteactor:TarajiP.Henson Favouritemovie:Acrimony FavouriteTVshow:TheRiver

Favourite food: Anything with cheese and meat Favouritemusician:TashaCobbs

Favourite emoji: Face with tears of joy Topthreesongsonmyplaylist: AnythingforYou–Ledisi UntilMorning–JamesVickery

I’ll Just Say Yes – Brian Courtney Wilson.