Turning Pain Into Performance: Sabelo Nkosi’s story, as seen on Mzansi Magic
Born in a Christian home in the month of April 1999. Sabelo is the first born of his family. As with most deputy parents, Sabelo grew up self-motivated and with a strong conviction to wanting to make it. As a leader of 2 other male siblings, he certainly had to be a good example.
Life is unpredictable and we face lot of challenges that we struggle to overcome or learn to live with. Sabelo suffered from self-doubt and low self-esteem. In his now jovial mood he recalls, “I was a people pleasing person, worried about what people thought or would say to me.“
This subjected Sabelo to verbal bullying with other children, even when he moved to Sacred Heart college in Grade 8, the bullying continued, and he knew he had to accept himself first. Little did he know that talent for him would mean starring in adverts and being all over people’s television sets across the world.
Many at times, as Africans, we struggle to accept that things like bullying and abuse can have detrimental effects. For Sabelo’s family, they became key in supporting their first child in all he needed. It was then in 2015 when Sabelo was in Grade 11 that he was asked by a friend Mbali Khumalo who was in Grade 12 by then, to help in an acting project. Sabelo was surprised although he had been exposed to theater by then. After deliberations he then helped with taking up the role and he obviously nailed it. For a man who didn’t believe in himself, Sabelo was thrilled. Despite not having the best grades on matric, Sabelo’s family supported him, and he joined AFDA Johannesburg to study a bachelor’s degree in visual arts. He studied directing in the first half and acting in the second half. So, when you see him next, he is a qualified actor lol.
Having spoken to Sabelo a couple of times, I discovered he is a people loving person, we even became friends in the first five minutes of the interview, reason why he says he enjoys being on set working with a crew around him. From helping in a theater project, Sabelo landed a role in Skills Panda. It became his first ever gig. He moved to work with Hippo Advertisements and continued doing his best on screen. It wasn’t until he saw that one of South Africa’s biggest production houses, Penguins Production was looking for talent. Sabelo auditioned for the role of Solomzi. The character Solomzi is a bitter young adult who feeds on unhealthy competition and bullying others to find solace with his background. Because it sounded familiar to Sabelo, he landed the role and executed it with ease.
The new soap opera, S’phiwo, came to our screens on Mzansi Magic this year and since then Sabelo has become an interesting performer to look up to every Monday at 8pm. From experiencing bullying and surviving it, Sabelo now portrays it in acting, preceding a message of hope and tranquility.
Asked for advice to the young people facing bullying, he took a long sigh and said:
“If you are being bullied verbally, those words will never mean anything to you, if physically you will never be alone, dream as big as you can, there is always something to chase as a person.”
Sabelo Nkosi kick starts a very promising television career and with his amazing articulation of words, he is bound to be one of South Africa’s biggest actors and his radiant smile will continue to light up the world.
