Often all he needs is his ring light and it's lights, camera, and action. After years of winning over fans and followers with his YouTube skits, he's ready for the big leagues.
Young actor Dumisa Sakwe became popular through his witty content on the video site.
And then he got the call of his dreams - he was cast to be part of a star-studded movie that is currently being premiered in the cinemas.
“I couldn’t believe that I got the role, it was such a wonderful experience because I do a lot of acting videos for social media, so it was great to finally be in a space where I had to do acting professionally and see the ins and outs of being on set. it wasn’t as easy as I thought but was amazing.”
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He was too stunned to speak when he learnt that he would be working alongside his role model, Dr Jerry Mofokeng Wa Makhetha. The confident content creator tells us that being in the same space with the legendary actor was an extraordinary moment for him, he learnt a lot.
“I was so thrilled and couldn’t believe that I was working with him, I mean to just be in the same space with him was phenomenal. Watching him work and having him provide me with some tips helped me a lot. I also got to learn from other people on set too,” he tells Drum.
The film is called What About The Boys, which tells a story about gender-based violence.
“The main priority of the film is to teach young men on how to treat women, girls and people from the LGBTQ+ community,” Dumisa adds.
He joins the storyline as Donald, a young man who is haunted by self-acceptance.
“Donald is a troubled teenager who is dealing with a lot, the main thing is having to hide his sexuality in fear of being judged by his friends and fellow teammates, being treated as a weirdo and cast out of the rugby team by his coach."
“He’s a free child and very smart but the only problem was hiding his sexuality and all of that just built a lot of anger inside of him.”
He says it was not much of a challenge to embody such a character because he was able to channel his real-life sense into it.
“The resemblance between Donald and I is that I know how it feels to be treated as an outcast because of reasons you cannot control. I was judged a lot growing up because I was a shy and quiet kid and no one wanted to be friends with me and that resulted to me being an angry child with a lot of explosive anger moments."
“So, I understood the build up anger that he [his character] had, I got to relate that way and was able to play around that with what I have gone through and compare it with what Donald is going through.”
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His wish through his character is for people to live their truth. “If you avoid living the truth, it is going to be hard for you to be the hundred per cent happy person that you are meant to be, you should do it yourself and not for people because they will always talk,” he says.
“I just hope that people are going to realize the impact of hate directed towards people of the LGBTQI+ community and how that hate can result into people hiding their true selves which can put them under so much pressure leading into self harm. I would like for young boys and men to teach themselves the importance of treating women accordingly, and also accepting themselves in order to acquire true happiness within."
Dumisa recalls falling for the art of storytelling when he was still a young boy. “I’ve always wanted to be an actor ever since the old Generations on SABC 1, it is something that I always wanted since I was like 9/10 years old.
“What I love about it [acting] is that I can tell people’s stories and it helps me find healing from a lot of things that I am going through, I can escape my own reality and act someone’s reality.”
