DEMON IN THE CITY OF ANGELS

SA’s Lesley-Ann Brandt is a Hollywood star

It’s such a vulnerable time for a woman after she’s given birth. Your hormones are all over the place, you’re juggling breast feeding and all of those things

Lesley-Ann Brandt

● South African actress Lesley-Ann Brandt had her hands full filming the fourth season of the international TV series Lucifer.

Not only did she have to get back into shape quickly after giving birth, but her then six-week-old son Kingston was on set with her in Los Angeles.

“It’s such a vulnerable time for a woman after she’s given birth. Your hormones are all over the place, you’re juggling breast feeding and all of those things. I was just lucky I had an amazing support system, my doula [birth companion] and my husband are very present and helpful.”

Brandt married US actor Chris Payne Gilbert in 2015.

The fourth season of Lucifer was filmed last year and made its global premiere on Netflix on Wednesday. Brandt plays Mazikeen, a demon who takes the form of a young woman.

The 37-year-old actress left Cape Town for New Zealand with her family in 1999, where she worked on several local productions before moving to the US.

She always tells people that “when you cut me, my blood runs green and gold”. Brandt hopes to visit SA soon.

“I miss Table Mountain — it’s always so spiritual when I go hiking up there or Lion’s Head. I also miss the sense of humour; no matter what the country is going through we just have this incredible dark sense of humour which I love.”

She said she had made many sacrifices to make it onto the international stage.

“I went four years without seeing my parents. I was just on the grind trying to make it here. I had to face the decision of paying rent or buying a plane ticket to visit my family in New Zealand and that was definitely challenging for me. I am very happy to sacrifice, not to go out or go to parties, in order to focus on an audition or stuff like that.”

Brandt, who was on the cover of Women’s Health magazine for the second time in April, six months after having her baby, said the roles she was being booked for showed a positive outlook on representation.

“The industry is becoming more representative in the content that gets put out. I love seeing fellow South Africans doing well internationally. Pearl Thusi is killing it, Trevor Noah is killing it, Terry Pheto has been killing it for such a long time, as well as Kim Engelbrecht.”