10 of the most Popular South African Actresses

Photo by Jacques Nel on Unsplash

10 of the most Popular South African Actresses

The South Africa Film Industry has come a long way from the era of Gods must be Crazy. The increased use of its locations and local talents by international productions has seen and will continue to see upward projections.

The Industry has grown tremendously in the past years. We have seen new and fresh talent all over the S. A. screen. Netflix is the latest and hottest streaming service has taken up several shows from S.A showing that the country is doing something right.

As usual, females have had to break barriers to be ‘it’ in the entertainment industry. We get to look at the most popular actresses in South Africa at the moment:

1.Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron Fuzheado – Wikimedia

Charlize Theron was born on 7^th August 1975. She is a South African /American actress and producer.

She is one of the world’s highest-paid actresses. She has bagged various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.

She came to be known to the international audience in the 1990s by playing in the Hollywood films The Devil’s Advocate (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and The Cider House Rules (1999).

Theron became an American citizen in 2007 while retaining her South African citizenship.

She has been honored with a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2016, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

2.Leleti Khumalo

Leleti Khumalo was born on 30^th March 1970. She is a South African actress.

She is famously known for her leading role in the movie and stage play Sarafina!

In 1992, she starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Miriam Makeba, and John Kani in the film version of Sarafina! It became the biggest film production to be released on the African continent. Khumalo was nominated for an Image Award with Angela Bassett, Whoopi Goldberg, and Janet Jackson.

She has then joined casts here and there including in Generations (2005) and Uzalo (2015.

3.Pearl Thusi

Sithembile Xola Pearl Thusi was born on 13^th May 1988. She is a South African actress, model, and presenter.

She is known for her roles in the comedy-drama series, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, the ABC thriller Quantico and the romance film Catching Feelings.

In 2020, she starred in Netflix’s first African original series Queen Sono.

4.Embeth Davidtz

Embeth Jean Davidtz was born on August 11th, 1965. She is an American-South African actress.

Her screen roles include movies such as Army of Darkness, Schindler’s List, Matilda, Mansfield Park, Bicentennial Man, Fallen, Junebug, and Fracture, and the television series Mad Men, Californication, In Treatment, and Ray Donovan.

Her film debut came in 1988 with a small role in South African-filmed American horror Mutator. Shortly after, she won a bigger part in the South African short telemovie A Private Life.

She won a DALRO Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the 1990 play Houd-den-bek. She was nominated in 1991 for the Esther Roos Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in the Afrikaans film.

She has offered her the role of Helen Hirsch in Schindler’s List.

5. Jessica Marais

Jessica Marais and James Stewart. Photo by Eva Rinaldi – Wikimedia

Jessica Dominique Marais was born on 29^th January 1985. She is a South African-born Australian actress.

She is best known for her roles on Australian television in Packed to the Rafters and Love Child. She also co-starred in the American drama series Magic City.

Marais was attending NIDA when she was cast in the role of Rachel Rafter on the television series Packed to the Rafters. The series became a success and was instantly renewed.

Marais has won and been nominated, for seven Logies in her time.

6.Moshindi Motshegwa

Moshidi Motshegwa is an actress and writer.

She is known for Noem My Skollie: Call Me Thief (2016), Zero Tolerance (2004), and The River (2018).

She left The River and thought she would be blacklisted.  Disagreeing with who is who in the entertainment industry is not always the intelligent choice. However, that didn’t happen. She is back on TV doing what she loves.

She acquired a role in the film Isono.

7.Lesley Ann Brandt

Lesley-Ann Brandt. Photo by Gage Skidmore- Wikimedia

Lesley-Ann Brandt was born on 2^nd December 1981. She is a South African actress.

She has acted in several New Zealand television series. She first came to international notice with her role in the series Spartacus, Blood, and Sand.

Since January 2016, she has played the role in the television series Lucifer.

Her first significant acting role was in the New Zealand television series Diplomatic Immunity. She has appeared in guest roles on the New Zealand hospital soap opera, Shortland Street, and This Is Not My Life.

8.Alice Krige

Alice Maud Krige was born on 28^th June 1954. She is a South African actress and producer.

She played a role in Chariots of Fire and Eva Galli/Alma Mobley in Ghost Story, both in 1981.

She earned a Plays and Players Award, as well as a Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer. This is after appearing in a 1981 West End theatre production of George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man.

Her first feature film role was in Chariots of Fire (1981).

She also played a role in Star Trek: First Contact (1996).

9. Jodi Balfour

Jodi Balfour. Photo by GabboT – Wikimedia

Jodi Balfour is a South African film and television actress. She is known for her role as Gladys Witham in the Canadian television drama series Bomb Girls.

She won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Film or Miniseries at the 3^rd Canadian Screen Awards in 2015. This was for her performance in the series’ follow-up television film Bomb Girls: Facing the Enemy.

10.Terry Pheto

Terry Pheto. Photo by Peter Bennett / ZIFF- Wikimedia

Moitheri Pheto was born on 11^th May 1981. She is a South African actress.

She is best known for her leading role as Miriam in the 2006 Oscar-winning feature film Tsotsi.

In 2011, after leaving South Africa to try her luck in Hollywood, she landed a recurring role on the American soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.