Scars of the past: Heartthrob Senzo Radebe is ready to take the throne

Do looks matter in becoming a successful actor? Absolutely, according to leading man Senzo Radebe.

It’s for that reason that having to accept the huge scar left on his right arm after surviving a near-fatal accident in 2017 became one of the biggest hurdles Radebe had to overcome.

“We all look the same as actors if we don’t transform our bodies, and having a bigger body has always given me that edge I need,” Radebe confesses. “It has helped me a lot in getting roles, because writers tend to have sexy characters and when I fit the description as I arrive for the audition, I get it.”

Radebe slipped into a dark depression in 2016 that lasted for two years after he had been sandwiched by two taxis when they collided at Noord Street taxi rank in the Joburg CBD.

The career of the 28-year-old actor had just taken off at the time. He had become a household name playing Sthe Gumede in SABC 2 soapie Muvhango. Interestingly, Radebe claims he was initially supposed to portray Vusi, the son of Thandaza Mokoena (Sindi Dlathu). However, producers thought viewers wouldn’t be convinced that Radebe was Thandaza’s son because of his dark complexion. So, Raphael Griffiths (currently, on drama series Imbewu: The Seed) was cast in the role instead, with writers creating a new role for Radebe as Vusi’s BFF Sthe. 

The character quickly grew in the three years he played the role, until everything abruptly came to a standstill after he was involved in the accident.

“I laugh now thinking that I got sandwiched by two taxis and I lived to see the day,” Radebe says. “I had depression because I had this huge scar and then thinking I’m not going to get jobs because of it. Things had started to go well in my life and then boom. Accepting it was the turning point.

“When the taxi hit me, I broke a bone and, because I was huge at that time, they couldn’t close the wound when they operated and had to do a skin graft. So, I have two scars — one on my leg and one on my arm.”

Much like Hollywood heartthrob Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Radebe’s buff physique has been a useful element in his career. But for his role as Senzangakhona (Shaka’s father) in Shaka Ilembe he slimmed down by going on a calorie deficit — meaning he was taking in fewer calories than he was burning. He achieved this by eliminating a lot of carbs from his diet. As a qualified personal trainer, it was a challenge that came easily to him. 

“Senzangakhona is not big, but rather lean. Around that period [1700s] there was no gym, so he wouldn’t look like a body builder,” says Radebe.

“Every actor is always waiting for this moment. You don’t even have to be a lead, you just have to be part of a big show that 20 years from now people will still remember.

“Some things are just aligned. You feel it before it happens, before they tell you that you’re hired. It’s in the energy. Senzangakhona is a spiritual character. You feel it and you really have to be inside this man’s head. I have to forget myself, and I haven’t tapped into that with my other roles.”

Radebe, famous for rocking a chiskop, had to undergo another physical transformation in growing his hair to support the wig he wears in the series. “It’s a crazy process. If there is one thing I’m not going to miss about this character it’s the hair,” he says.

He has just come from playing another big character — bisexual gangster Abednego Gumede in BET Africa telenovela Isono. His onscreen romance with Bohang Moeko featured steamy love scenes with lots of nudity that had some viewers gasping for air. Radebe also had racy scenes with much-older Nthati Moshesh.

“It was quite challenging, because outside of set Nthati is somewhat of a mother figure. Then next thing I’m having intimate scenes with her. That’s the beauty of acting — you come out of your shell. Isono changed my career in that sense, and I really had to be outside of myself,” Radebe says.

“With regard to Bohang, it was easier because we are both straight and we were trying to get it right together. We had a conversation and it was like, ‘We are going to go all the way.’ He had played a gay role before, but he never stretched himself that much. We were comfortable with each other.”

Radebe this year played another gay character struggling to accept his sexuality in TV drama Entangled. He currently appears in Mzansi Magic telenovela Gomora. His other TV appearances include Abomama, Ring of Lies, Ifalakhe, and Ingozi.