By Palesa Ndinisa
Nkosana Samane, an actor from Tsakane, Langaville was casted on South Africa’s most popular and loved series, Shaka iLembe season 1 and 2. The thespian plays Noluju, a character of a man who is in support of the Ndwandwe reign, which its king is known for being cunning and ruthless. Noluju is King Zwide kaLanga’s trusted spy.
Samane completed his acting course at the Market Theatre Laboratory in Newtown. The talented actor has been on Mzansi Magic’s Lokshin Bioskop local movie called Romeo and Romeo playing Skhumba, renown telenovela Isibaya playing Punka, which gave him a breakthrough and opened doors in starring more and bigger roles. The gifted actor also starred on SABC 1’s iconic Generation The Legacy series as Ndumiso, he played detective Zolani on Moja Love’s Phoyisa and last but not least, he played Nkanyamba on Code 13, a telenova and drama series on Showmax. “My love for acting started at a young age. By the tender age of 9, I loved reading comic books, Super Strikers was my favourite. I then started writing my own books. I was later given the opportunity to play the character of Shaka on a play during a heritage day event at school. My then teacher advised me to learn different languages since my love for acting grew. I was more involved in theatre plays which later led me to attend at Isibikwa Art Centre doing dance, poetry and acting. It’s a blessing that I used to play Shaka at primary school, and now I’m part of the most popular African historical series- Shaka iLembe, with a great production team and great actors,” divulged Samane.
The star attested that he draws inspiration from legendary television giants like Zolisa Xaluva, Magic Hlatshwayo and the late Joe Mafela. Considering the greatness in the work they have accomplished, Samane also mentioned that their multilingualism has impacted him tremendously and has encouraged him to work harder. To perfect his craft, the actor mentioned that he studies the bio of a character he will be playing and then use the Stanislavsky technique, which is a comprehensive acting system focused on creating realistic and authentic performances by delving into a character’s psychological depth and motivations.
Getting lead roles that were sustainable and successful were some of the challenges that the actor disclosed to have. Alluding that his acting career started in 2011, the star would only get feature roles and only received leading roles in 2022. “It’s not easy in this industry. That’s why I always advise aspiring actors to keep pushing, never give up and always try again and again until something happens because something will happen. Prayer works,” gracefully said Samane.
The actor concluded to hint that there are more roles he has under his belt and he will continue to star on Shaka iLembe season 3.
