Spotlight on local actress Masali Baduza
Her lead role in a BBC drama series has put this local actress on a path to stardom
MIXING THINGS UP The South African actress plays Persephone “Sephy” Hadley in the BBC drama Noughts + Crosses, based on the novel of the same name by Malorie Blackman. The show is set in an alternate universe where black people (crosses) are the dominant class in society and white people (noughts) are the underclass. It’s forbidden for noughts and crosses to mix, but when Sephy falls for her housekeeper’s son Callum ( Jack Rowan), a nought, they find their lives and their views on society turned upside down. “Prior to reading Malorie’s books I’d never heard of a world where Africans were the ruling class,” says Masali (23). “It was unique and made me feel warm inside, to imagine a world where this could be a possibility.”
HOMEGROWN TALENT Masali grew up in the Eastern Cape and after high school attended the New York Film Academy’s Los Angeles campus. She graduated in 2016 and landed her first big-screen role in local movie Bhai’s Café, which was released last year. She also starred in the M-Net series Trackers, but the BBC drama is her first major role. “This job was a first for everything. It was my first starring role, and my first international project. Usually I do a couple of days shooting on a project. So to be there for the whole thing and see how it works from beginning to end was really cool to be part of.”
CONVERSATION STARTER With its themes of classism and prejudice, Masali hopes the show will start a positive conversation amongst viewers. “It might kick-start a conversation about racism that comes from a place of trying to see things from someone else’s perspective.” Her co-star, fellow South African actress Bonnie Mbuli, who plays her mother, shares Masali’s sentiments about the series. “I think a show like Noughts + Crosses says, ‘Okay, we’re going to tell your story. You don’t have to answer anything. Nobody’s pointing the finger at you. Why don’t you watch and be entertained. But while you’re being entertained, we’re going to ask some difficult questions.’”