PLAYING Mokgadi in Skeem Saamhas taught Pebetsi Matlaila the power of love.
The 33-year-old actress said we live in a society where love is a material thing and is linked to what you can get out of it.
Pebetsi said her character is in love with an ordinary man and also loves her troublemaker son. “She took bullets for him,” she said.
“I love my six-year-old daughter. and can easily shed tears on set over Mokgadi’s son, because I imagine how I would feel if it were my daughter.
“A mother’s love is deep.”
In the soapie, Mokgadi had a baby when she was 14, who was put out for adoption.
Pebetsi said: “She is looking for her child and trying to fix her own problems.”
The actress from Moletlane Village in Zebediela. Limpopo, who grew up in Sekonye in Botlokwa, said she never dreamt of going into acting.
She said when she joined Skeem Saam three years ago, she connected with veteran actors like Harriet Manamela, who plays Meikie Maputla.
“She told me the secret to acting is not to act but reacting to the calling. I have never underestimated it since then.”
Pebetsi later took acting lessons. “I learnt how to channel emotions, read scripts, understand the purpose of the scene and also the writer and director’s point of view.
“Skeem Saam is my institution,” she said.
Pebetsi, whose parents are both teachers, has a psychology degree and is studying for her education degree.
The actress, who has worked in America as a nanny for four years , said kids have pure souls.
