HOLLYWOOD STAR WANTS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Award-winning actress, Thuso Mbedu, wants to be remembered for making a difference in the world.
Speaking to Village Talk, during a visit to Pietermaritzburg and her alma mater, Girls High School, on Friday last week, she said: “At the end of the day it is about making yourself proud and having a constant impact on the people around you.”
It’s something Mbedu, who was born and raised in the City, hopes to do through her latest project. She will be helping to create a suite of shows for Paramount+ outside the United States. These programmes will be focused on issues around equity, climate and health.
“This [project] is to specifically create content that will speak to specific things for Africans, in terms of the stories that we deal with, but also create opportunities for people in the industry, both in front of and behind the camera,” she said.
Mbedu, who won acclaim and several awards for her performance in Barry Jenkins’ drama series, The Underground Railroad, was joined at GHS by John Boyega, one of her co-stars in The Woman King.
The movie, which boasts some incredible action sequences, is produced by and stars Viola Davis (How To Get Away With Murder, The Help and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom). It was directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood.
The Woman King is loosely based on the tale of an all-female army of African warriors who protected the 18th-century kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa from European slave traders.
Davis plays the army’s general, Nanisca, with Mbedu as Nawi, an orphan who finds a sense of belonging as part of this group of warriors.
Boyega, the star of the British drama series, Small Axe, and the Star Wars sequels, plays Dahomey’s King Ghezo in the movie, which was filmed in Cape Town and the surrounding areas, and in the Hlhuluwe area of Zululand.
The actor praised his dynamic female co-stars saying that he had been happy to support them on the film.
Mbedu and Davis are two of four strong, black women in The Woman King. The others are Lashana Lynch, who played an M16 agent in No Time To Die and Maria Rambeau in Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Sheila Atim, a celebrated British stage actress, who has won Laurence Olivier Awards for the plays Constellations and Girl from the North Country.
“They’re the best in the game … they’re just brilliant, really, really good. I was inspired every single day,” Boyega said.
He added that he’d been surprised to learn that Mbedu was South African, having watched her award-winning performance in The Underground Railroad, which tells the story of people attempting an escape from slavery in the southern United States in the 1800s
“I thought she was American, which is a testament to her skill and her ability,” Boyega said.
Mbedu told Village Talk she was incredibly grateful to have been given the chance to be in The Woman King and to be part of a talented ensemble cast.
“This is why I am in this industry. It’s not for the fame, it’s not for the glamour; It’s specifically to have an impact that will affect people for generations to come.
“I wish I could have had someone, a story like this, for me growing up. It will definitely affect how you carry yourself,” she added.
Asked what it was like working with Davis, she said: “There aren’t any words to describe the opportunity.
“She is a great person, before we even get to her being an actress. She is willing to help in every way. She communicated and engaged with us on a personal level; and then just watching her is a masterclass in itself. A masterclass in acting, but also a masterclass in being human.”
Former GHS principal, Valerie Fowler, who taught Mbedu English and coached her in sport, told pupils that the actress was the epitome of strong, confident South African womanhood and a wonderful role model.
She added: “I see a wonderful person, who has become a celebrity in our eyes, but she’s still Thuso.
“Girls, every single one of you can follow this amazing example. It doesn’t matter which platform you stand on, you can be proud that you are a person that the world needs to look up to.”
Addressing the pupils, Mbedu urged them to focus on their studies, saying that she attributed much of her success to the solid grounding she received at GHS.