XOLILE TSHABALALA: INSTAGRAM
Actress Xolile Tshabalala sat down with BONA to discuss her recent role in the Netflix drama series, Blood Legacy.
The 20-episode drama series recently premiered on the popular streaming platform, based in KwaZulu-Natal captures three siblings at war for the reins of their father’s multi-billion rand company Spear Industries capturing their lives navigating family issues and being number one.
Xolile Tshabala playing the one of the lead characters as Khanyi Ndlovu Adesina unpacks her role in the drama series as well has shares insight on her acting journey.
Speaking on her portrayal in the series, Xolile said, “I just love the fact that Khanyi is an independent and powerful woman, who is just comfortable in her skin. It’s also nice to see black women not make excuses and be unapologetic themselves.”
Xolile’s notable roles include shows such as, 4Play: Sex Tips for Girls, Secrets & Scandals, Blood & Water, and Housekeepers just to name a few, and given that each character brings forth a different perceptive, she shared that her role as Khanyi is to clean up her father’s legacy and is determined to make a change, adding that, her recent role in Blood and Water as Nwabisa Bhele was more of a desparate character.
She says, “She just wants to clean her father’s legacy. Even though sometimes it’s hard for her but she wants her family name to be upholded in a better light than just being. Part of the rich, wealthy people who are scandalous. She just wants to clean up her family legacy in Spear.”
When asked what it took for her to chanel and prepare for the role as Khanyisile Ndlovu Adesina, she said that for every role she has done she digs deep into understanding who she is doing it for. In the beginning of the series, her character has lived in isolation away from her family memebers but is called back by her father to help revive the company.
“I asked myself, who do I want to inspire when play this character, given that Khanyisile is a CEO that it would be young people who want to be CEOs one day. So at the moment, I know exactly who I’m doing this for. Then the character comes easy, so that I can play the character with full understanding. the character is not going to be perfect. I later ask myself, how would she walk in this world as a journalist? She’s just free because she’s put herself in semi-exile in Cape Town and doesn’t want anything to do with the family,” she says.
Further explaining the character to BONA, she stated that, “I draw a timeline for my character and then see the journey and have a journey with her and go through the genie and go through the pitfalls, the rise and whatever. But me as an actor, I ask myself. What kind of a bird would she be? And then I walk like that bird for a while and then I observe that bird and see how it functions then, I know who the character is and by the time I get there, I’ve got the material. I understand the background story of the character.”
Sharing her experinece on the set, she said that she worked with amazing directors, adding:
“I’d love to very much and I was reported who’s been my actor as well. So it’s a full circle because I’ve directed her on intersections and now she’s directing me on this one. Marvin, I met for the first time and I just loved him dearly. And I’ll be saying I’ve known her, she’s a sister, we used to direct together when we were younger and then Bonnie I really didn’t know her because she’s a new face, right? But I’ve known her work as a writer, so I’ve had an amazing Gambit production, as this would be my second offering with them. and Durban was just amazing. I had an amazing, the cast and the crew as the lead actor as number one, in the course sheet, which it really means, really nothing is just the number, right? But it’s also important that you are the one who can set up.”
At the time of the premiere of the series the South African movie indutstry had lost veteran actress Connie Chiume, who played the matricah role of Madlamini Ndlovu in the series.
Describing Connie on set, Xolile mentions that, “I’ve always said that she was fun. I’m Connie is always so much fun when she I love traveling to set with her. She would, always give you pearls of wisdom. She was fun, she was funny, she was hilarious, and would you not seen together and was sit in the corner. She had a naughty streak about her, but you just love she was just love.”
Blood Legacy become one of the most popular TV shows on Netflix South Africa gaining over 1,5 million views in the first week.
As we hope for a season 2, Xolile ended the interview saying, “One day will know and that day will be closer than you think.”
Catch Blood Legacy on Netflix.
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