She moves in silence and lets her work do the talking.
For the past five years, her talking has been in business.
However, now and again, she dips her toe back into the acting scene.
After leaving Muvhango, the next time we saw her was on One Magic’s Entangled and these were four years apart.
Having killed her role as Sharon, the relationship web series was renewed for the second season.
Now gearing up to return to the screens today for its second season, Entangled brings back Phuti Khomo.
“There was a lot of pressure not just to pull of Sharon but to pull of an enjoyable, likeable series because we all got the same mandate as to what kind of feel we were going for, the references we had for the show, i.e. Gabrielle Union’s Being Mary Jane,” she says.
“If you have great people to bounce off your craft with, it just works. It makes you be able to pull on your full potential because you see how good the people around you are. Secondly, I don’t come out for any character, I’ve paid my dues in this industry, and I come out for something that I truly believe in. I believed in this character and this show, otherwise I’m in business hundred percent.”
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The former Miss South Africa Teen has been in the industry for over two decades. Although she started modelling at the age of six, her acting debut was in 2001 when she was about 17 years old.
When she got the role of Sharon, she says she was excited and because it had been long since she was seen on screens, it had to make a statement and she had to prove to herself that she still has the acting skills up her sleeve.
“The greatest thing to ever happen to me was that I got into the entertainment industry a long time ago when actors weren’t getting that much and you couldn’t negotiate; whatever they offered, you just took it and people just wanted to be famous. I realised that if I live on this, there is no way I could have the life that I wanted so I knew that I had to do something else in order to afford the lifestyle.”
For as long as she remembers, Phuti has been a dreamer of big things and a lover of even nicer things. No matter what life threw her way, she wasn’t willing to compromise on living the life she had dreamt of. Over the years, her business ventured overtook her acting aspirations.
The last thing she wanted was to find herself committing career suicide out of desperation for gigs in order to survive, she says.
“You end up taking roles that, first of all, you don’t like, second of all, that aren’t meant for you and third of all, that you can’t do. I struggled a bit [myself]. I’ve always felt uncomfortable playing drunk but if I depended on the industry, I would have taken a role [of that nature] and I would’ve botched it. It would’ve been so bad that I wouldn’t be called for anything else and that would be career suicide for me,” says the seasoned actress.
She adds that another problem that actors have is being typecast – staying in one role so long and eventually struggling to break free from them.
Sharing more about her journey to smooth sailing in the acting industry, she also says that she even had to make the tough decision to leave Muvhango where she had been playing the character of Carol Chabelli.
“I left Muvhango because I was told that they didn’t know what to do with my character anymore. I was like, I can’t be sitting here until someone figures out because they’re probably going to figure it out in a year or two years’ and then I’m on people’s screens everyday as a glorified extra until something happens and I get a storyline.”
More than anything, she is grateful for where she is in life at the moment where she’s at liberty to pick and choose impactful characters to play.
Read More | Phuti Khomo to make her debut on Imbewu as Josina, Ngcolosi’s fiancée
Although she’s open to going international with her acting, there is no ambitious pursuit for it.
“It’s something I love doing but it’s not something I want to do full time. If I could get a great role once in a year or two years, I’m happy,” the 39-year-old tells Drum that acting has become a passion project for her.
“Sharon has taught me that it is okay to go for the things that you want and it’s okay for them to not work out. We are so afraid of trying new things or leaving a relationship that you are safe in and not pursuing your passion or who you believe in, but Sharon does that. We all go through heartache, if you’re not prepared to go through heartache, then don’t be in love.”
Excited for everyone to see how Sharon has evolved in her love life troubles, Phuti says that this time around, there won’t be just laughter in the series but also a lot of emotions especially in the storylines of her co-stars (the men that she’s entangled with).
In the new season, Sisanda Henna will also be joining the cast as Sizwe, a character which was previously played by Vuyo Ngcukana.
