Dineo Rasedile breaks away from teen roles to first adult character

After a decade of being typecast in teen roles, Dineo Rasedile is ready for a major acting shift with her first adult character portraying a shrewd lawyer.

The Secunda-born, Mpumalanga, actor first made a name for herself with the role of Yolanda in the drama series Ambitions opposite the late Mary Twala.

She then sank her teeth into more roles in shows such as The Estate, Scandal!, MTV Shuga and Justice Served.

Rasedile told Sowetan that her pint-sized and fresh-faced look has often derailed her progression as an actor. 

“I stepped into the professional space in 2014, when I was 24 but funny enough, I didn’t look like one. My agent would tell me that I’d have to go for teen roles because that’s what all the directors and producers would see in me,” she said.

“It took me years to understand how I read on screen and after ten years, I finally get to slip into Gugu Mabaso’s shoes – an adult role I prayed to God for at the beginning of the year and I’m glad it’s finally coming to fruition.”

The 33-year-old star is set to shift gears in Showmax’s new legal drama, Law, Love & Betrayal. 

“It has been a long, hard and hectic road but from the past ten years that I’ve been acting, I can see that my consistency paid off because I now get requested to come for auditions as opposed to standing in long queues for a casting,” she said. 

“When I got the brief of the character, I kept thinking about the look I’d go for because I had just shaved all my hair off, only to be told that that’s the look the producers were looking for.”

Playing juvenile characters is no easy or simple task, as Rasedile pointed out, it requires a lot of energy.

“Playing young is mentally exhausting because it needs a lot of energy. Teens of today aren’t like how we were growing up. They speak and walk differently from how I was as a teenager – so I had to keep abreast with what’s cool and popping with the young ones even though I’m in my 30s,” she said. 

“When I was on MTV Shuga, I was surrounded by people ten years younger than me all day every day. So, I had to figure out a way to establish a rapport with my co-stars despite their age. At times, makeup artists would only switch up the manner they spoke to me after they’d find out how old I was. So, it’s been quite an interesting ride.

“One thing I’ve learnt about the younger generation is that they work smart and creatively instead of working hard or sweating like we were taught growing up. This helps them come up with solutions more quickly and efficiently. For them mental health matters. Some of them already have businesses in their teens... they’re just driven in a different way as opposed to people my age.” 

In the new legal drama, Rasedile shares the screen with Nimrod Nkosi and Pearl Modiadie.

“This is my third time working with Nimrod. We had an amazing time on set and the rapport was out of this world. I also feel that the director chose a perfect cast,” she said.

“Learning the legal terminology was intense for me but I enjoyed doing research and getting my mind into the legal world. We also had experts come in to teach us how to pronounce the right words or legal terms correctly.”