Zola Nombona has finally earned her top billing.
The actress from Mthatha, Eastern Cape, makes a big splash next week as the co-star of Z'bondiwe, the new e.tv action drama series.
Nombona enjoyed relative fame with some small roles in SABC1 dramas such as Intersexions, Single Guys and Ithuba Lokugcina, and now she leads the cast in Z'bondiwe.
The channel touts Z'bondiwe as a blockbuster gritty drama about love entangled in the dark underworld of gangsterism, set in Soweto.
It centres on two gangs - The Vutha Boys and The Mambas - whose rivalry yields bloodbaths. There is also a generous dose of drugs, money-lending scams, stolen cars and prostitution. It airs on May 12 at 9.30pm.
For Nombona, 23, this is a dream come true. "Acting is what I always wanted. I'm theatre trained, but I've done more screen work and I'm accustomed to both ends. I can't choose one over the other, they both play different purposes," she says.
She plays Roxanne, a woman with a dark past, who used to date a gangster. Things got so bad that she had to run to Dubai to live with her mother. But now she is back to study in Cape Town and falls in love with Ntando (played by Anga Makhubalo) and they both move to Joburg and that's where the action picks up pace as the past comes back to haunt her.
"This role challenged me as a performer. It sounds meaty and I had to be convincing," she says, adding that the story demanded of her to be emotional with all the violence and danger she had to go through.
Nombona, whose other love is music, says she dreams of featuring her vocals on a house track.
"I love singing. I grew up surrounded by choral music. I was even in the choir through school in different voices, including bass at an all-girls school. I also love film scores, my favourite composer is Hans Zimmer."
The three best friends she met at varsity are her anchor - Busisiwe Mtshali and Lwazi Mthembu (who feature in the TV show Thandeka's Diary ) and Andisa Mpisi (an arts manager at the National Arts Council). A seafood junkie, Nombona says a way to her heart is through a good seafood joint.
mofokengl@sowetan.co.za
Zola finally cracks the lead role
Zola Nombona has finally earned her top billing.
The actress from Mthatha, Eastern Cape, makes a big splash next week as the co-star of Z'bondiwe, the new e.tv action drama series.
Nombona enjoyed relative fame with some small roles in SABC1 dramas such as Intersexions, Single Guys and Ithuba Lokugcina, and now she leads the cast in Z'bondiwe.
The channel touts Z'bondiwe as a blockbuster gritty drama about love entangled in the dark underworld of gangsterism, set in Soweto.
It centres on two gangs - The Vutha Boys and The Mambas - whose rivalry yields bloodbaths. There is also a generous dose of drugs, money-lending scams, stolen cars and prostitution. It airs on May 12 at 9.30pm.
For Nombona, 23, this is a dream come true. "Acting is what I always wanted. I'm theatre trained, but I've done more screen work and I'm accustomed to both ends. I can't choose one over the other, they both play different purposes," she says.
She plays Roxanne, a woman with a dark past, who used to date a gangster. Things got so bad that she had to run to Dubai to live with her mother. But now she is back to study in Cape Town and falls in love with Ntando (played by Anga Makhubalo) and they both move to Joburg and that's where the action picks up pace as the past comes back to haunt her.
"This role challenged me as a performer. It sounds meaty and I had to be convincing," she says, adding that the story demanded of her to be emotional with all the violence and danger she had to go through.
Nombona, whose other love is music, says she dreams of featuring her vocals on a house track.
"I love singing. I grew up surrounded by choral music. I was even in the choir through school in different voices, including bass at an all-girls school. I also love film scores, my favourite composer is Hans Zimmer."
The three best friends she met at varsity are her anchor - Busisiwe Mtshali and Lwazi Mthembu (who feature in the TV show Thandeka's Diary ) and Andisa Mpisi (an arts manager at the National Arts Council). A seafood junkie, Nombona says a way to her heart is through a good seafood joint.
mofokengl@sowetan.co.za
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