The saying ‘Dynamite comes in small packages’ rings true for Sibongiseni Shezi.

The young star is the current lead in the Netflix hit Umjolo: The Gone Girl, a film collection that has taken the streaming platform by storm.

Her bubbly personality would never have you assume that she was quite the introvert growing up. It was through her talents that she unleashed her inner confidence. “Performing and playing roles outside myself was a good escape for me. If ever I felt a vulnerability hangover I could remove myself from that character. Like a Beyonce and Sasha Fierce type of thing.”

The bug bit her from as early as doing Arts and Culture in Primary School in Grade 1.

“By the time Facebook was created, I started a page. In 2007 I did the Young Performers Project in Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, Durban KwaZulu-Natal. That was my first semi professional experience of what it would be like to perform. The role I played was as one of the orphans in Annie and the stage just felt like home.”

That’s when she kicked into high gear and started to take her talents seriously.

“It’s all I saw myself ever doing and coined a tagline ‘Drama and Dance is my Life‘,” she said.

She started dancing at age 3 and was convinced she would become a prima ballerina but the acting bug was something that would never leave her. Her first professional gig was landing a role on Uzalo in 2018. Her journey in the industry has been a true test of grit and growth.

“Like everything else, it has its pros and cons. For one’s own mental health it’s imperative to find the glimmers in what it is that you do. There will always be industry politics, things you have to navigate, things to learn and growing pains. I am never left without the feeling of gratitude that I am satisfying and making happy my inner child.”

As the lead character on Umjolo, Sibongiseni’s story about landing the role is an interesting one. “I wasn’t initially going to audition for it only because of performance anxiety. I was too scared to challenge myself. I read the brief of Lethu the character but there has been so many times when you get briefs and then get a lot of ‘Nos’ and a couple of ‘Yes’s’. Often I’ve received briefs where the character was so much like me I knew I would barely have to act. This brief was me to the T. My nerves included the fact that I’ve played younger characters for the longest time – 6 years – and I felt I would be shooting myself in the foot if I auditioned for an older role, someone my age.”

One of the cast members on Uzalo was very intentional about auditioning for a role on Umjolo and inspired her after she assisted him with his lines. “He didn’t want anyone else to read with him so we did it together and then next thing I was shortlisted and things got serious. I had to fix my boot straps and allow myself to fall in love with the character, believing that I could get the role. I had an offering to give.”

The role was not a conventional one and by the time she got the role it was confirmation that she would be trusted to interpret the role in the way she saw fit.

“It’s been bliss since. It’s been a challenge to trust myself and not play a younger character which is all I’ve done. And a challenge to do something on such a global scale. In this case I could dance with the truth a little bit and not escape.”

In Umjolo: The Gone Girl Sibongiseni’s character Lethu is smitten with her boyfriend Lucky only to find her world crumble when she finds out he is a philandering nuisance. She then has to navigate through loving this problematic man or choosing herself. “People will resonate with staying a little too long with staying with someone who doesn’t deserve you. The yearning for love and being lost in the world of a seemingly perfect relationship. Social media has made it seem so easy to leave but in real-life people go back a lot and persecute themselves for it. Lethu is career driven with a good head on her shoulders and her Achilles heel is love.”

She adds that people will relate with the idea of love and needing someone. “Working on a Netflix show, on a global scale is not only nerve wracking but a dream come true. It’s an honour and privilege. All I pray for is to make the South African public proud. It is a different and unique experience.”

She hopes that reaching a global audience will result in impact and influence the trajectory of other people’s dreams. “I want people to see that it is possible to do something on a scale like that. And hopefully we continue to grow from that. I am humbled by this experience a lot.”

Sibongiseni’s future plans include continuing with her dance coaching and growing her dream of opening a studio that will lead to a dance academy.

“I want to be able to grow my brand as well and take the business side of it seriously by investing in the varying areas that inform what it is that I care about and build an empire from there.”

We will be seeing a lot more of Sibongiseni in the character of Lethu as the Umjolo four part film collection continues.