ACTRESS Jo-Anne Reyneke has been dazzling Muvhango viewers with her lovely smile and natural beauty, but deep down the need to meet her father has been gnawing at her.

Reyneke has not seen her father since she was a toddler. In a dramatic move this week she made a very public appeal on national television.

On SABC1's Khumbul'ekhaya Reyneke appealed to her father and siblings to get in touch with her. Reyneke, who plays Pearl, a receptionist in the soapie, asked host Andile Gaelisiwe to help her find her family.

She says her father's name is Johan Reyneke, a white man her mother met and started a family with. But when the relationship soured she moved to Pietermaritzburg with her mother. That was the last time she saw her father.

Reyneke said when she was in school she was envious of her classmates who always raved about their fathers. Her mother told her that her father lived far away, that's why they could not see him. She always felt a terrible longing for him.

"I have done well for myself. I am successful but I feel the need to meet my father for my life to be complete," she said.

Her direct appeal to her father is: "Wherever you are, I hope you feel the need to meet me as much I feel the need to meet you. I am a grown-up lady. you would be proud of me."

She also had this appeal to her siblings Joanna and Theuns: "I want to meet you. I want to find out how your upbringing was and what kind of father he was to you," she said,with tears in her eyes.

Now she waits for their response.