Life golden for couple this side of the camera
CELEBRITY power couple Connie and Shona Ferguson are riding a wave of success in the entertainment industry, but at home they are simply “Mom and Dad”.
The pair, who are celebrating 15 years of marriage, have proved that business and pleasure aren’t necessarily a bad combination as their production company, Ferguson Films, blossoms with three hit shows.
The secret of their success is being “buddies”, they told Sunday Times this week after receiving the BET A-List award for “television and film game-changers” at an event at the Four Seasons Hotel in Johannesburg.
“We are friends, even at work,” said Connie. “Some may call me or him boss, but with our team we are team players, there is not that unnecessary hierarchy unless there is a situation when somebody has to be the boss.”
The couple have two daughters, 14-year-old Alicia and 23-yearold Lesedi, who last year had a baby, making Connie and Shona proud grandparents.
“At home I am Mom and Grandma. You should see us with our kids — you forget that we are actors. I guess it’s something we don’t even think about. It has become organic in our lives,” said Connie.
In June, the 46-year-old actress ditched SABC soapie
Generations: The Legacy for the second time, having rejoined the revamped soap in 2014.
Her last episode aired in August, as the actress and her hunky 42year-old husband were in the process of shooting their latest telenovela, The
Queen. Mzansi Magic has commissioned 208 episodes of the show.
This is the third Ferguson production for the channel, which also broadcast their Xhosa drama Igazi —which boasted more than 1.2 million viewers in its final month on air, July.
In the same month they relaunched their fourth season of the drama
Rockville, which, according to viewership ratings from the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa, had more than 929 838 viewers that month.
With the production company now in its fifth year, Shona said some of its success could be attributed to “a great team”.
“We have an amazing team, from the script writers to the technical crew, cameramen and the production staff.
“Ferguson Films is a family and I think that is the upside of this and the one thing that works well for us. We don’t feel a lot of stress because we’ve got a great support system,” he said.
The company is one of the beneficiaries of the R1-billion that MultiChoice spends each year on locally produced content across its channels.
Another producer who has worked closely with MultiChoice is Basetsana Kumalo, whose company, Connect TV, has produced popular shows such as Our
Perfect Wedding and Date My Family.
“We’ve had such a great relationship with M-Net and DStv because they gave us our first opportunity,” said Shona.
The pair said they were not about to quit acting. Shona said he gave up acting for a year once, and wouldn’t do so again.
“We have a lot of followers from our acting so it would be a little unfair to cut that off completely when that is what we are known for,” said Connie.
“We love performing, even though we don’t play leads all the time in our dramas.
“We will always have that cameo role or that one-off appearance, depending on the story.”