Isibaya actress Nomzamo Mbatha has announced she will be leaving the popular local soapie. Five days after shooting her final scene as beloved Thandeka Zungu on Isibaya, actress Nomzamo Mbatha is yet to catch her breath after a whirlwind 12 months.
[full]Speaking yesterday ahead of rehearsals for a new project she won’t talk about just yet, the Durban-born beauty said: “I’ve not really had the time [to relax]. You don’t know how well you’re doing or how well the show is doing because you’re worried about the next scene you’re shooting.”
Her alarm clock went off at 4.30am as call time on set is 6am, and she had to apply make-up and go through wardrobe in 30 minutes before the cameras began rolling.
“By the time I get home, I’m a mess,” she says.
Isibaya was her first acting role. Before then, she was a finalist in the MTV Base VJ Search competition. That is where she was spotted for her Isibaya role.
She subsequently ditched her BCom accounting degree studies at the University of Cape Town. Now she has a Drum darlings rising star award and hot chick of the year feather award.
So why would she leave a role many young girls would kill for?
“My departure is a matter of work. I turned down a lot of work because I believe it’s unfair to tie yourself up to a lot of things. My schedule just never allowed for such. But I needed the break to embark on these projects and my Isibaya family was supportive – there was a group hug and I got a ‘go get it’.”
Mzansi Magic, the DStv channel that airs the soapie, could not give a date for her final appearance as her scenes were still in the editing stage, according to publicist Bongiwe Potelwa.[/full]