Staying grounded and trusting the process are some of the key lessons actress Galaletsang Koffman has learnt from the teething stages of her career.

Koffman, who is best known for her role as Beauty on the popular telenovela The River and Musa on Thula’s Vine, says the importance of knowing “when your time will come” is vital in one’s growth, especially in the entertainment industry.

She is set to act as the leading character of Lerato Maseko on Netflix's up-and-coming movie Real Estate Sisters. 

“Being a support and not a lead requires you to step into other people’s storylines and understand what other people are going through... it’s also the understanding of being number two and carrying the lead to fit into the story,” Koffman says.

“Beauty’s journey and storyline has taught me patience in the things that I want and the importance to aspire for more as an individual.”

Since making her television debut as Lefentse on The Road in 2015, Koffman has worked her way up as one of SA’s most recognisable faces in the acting industry.

“I always think of my career as a three-part structure which I call the trinity. There’s Galaletsang the actor, the performer and the person. Having acquired the role of Beauty, it required a lot of understanding from Galaletsang [the person] to portray a character that ambitious and assertive,” Koffman says about her flamboyant and outspoken character.

“My role as Beauty was meant to be very small... she was meant to play for a certain period and then exit the show but I guess Beauty really captured the audience with her feisty spirit and charisma that she’s still on screen today.

“I was on an open-ended contract when I first started five years ago. After six months I was asked to join the team as a permanent actor on the show. So, tenacity and hard work surely gets you there...”

The 27-year-old fell in love with acting in primary school but her true defining passion for the craft developed in high school which led her to acquire a BA Dramatic Arts in live performance at the Africa Film Drama Art (AFDA).

“Being able to pick up a role and act it out to be as entirely different from who I am as a person is very easy seeing that I am a Gemini, I can shift into different personalities. I can be wild, the next I can be calm... it’s an intricate skill that helps you as a performer,” says the thespian.

“Another thing that helps me assume a role so effortlessly is because of the lesson from AFDA. I know what I need to do, which facial expressions are required for a specific scene and how to perfectly execute them to convince the audience.

“Sometimes I could be having a bad day and not in the best of moods, I then would go back to what my acting coaches taught me and pull inspiration from my muscle memory on how it feels like to be happy and after paced breaths I’d automatically start smiling and then the good mood kicks in. Acting is a skill that should never be taken for granted.”  

Her love for acting stems from the notion that she’d rather be someone else other than be herself.

“Little Galaletsang was such an entertainer. I used to dance and ask people for money after I’ve performed for them. I come from a village in Makapanstad in the North West where the first additional language is Setswana and the secondary was Sepedi. So, I used to travel over 40km to 60km just to learn English at a school in the north,” she says.

“It was such a huge culture shock when I came to Joburg for the first time when I was a child because I couldn’t believe how big this city was. From the first time I saw Gold Reef City, I said it was a big jungle gym in someone’s backyard, I knew then that my aspirations had to be as big as the city of gold.”