She might have been a villain on screen but in real life, Nolwazi Shange-Ngubeni wears her heart on her sleeve. She finds joy in being at home with her kids and having home-cooked meals.
The actress is a household name and became even more so when she started playing Mbali Kubeka on e.tv's Scandal!.
The character started out humble, loving, and committed to her family – viewers fell for it but later changed their minds when Mbali couldn't keep up the act anymore and revealed her true colours.
“I had an amazing time playing her. She is actually such a fun girl to play, besides the fact that she is insane. That was the fun part for me like ‘okay what colour can we paint her today’ and I could do whatever I wanted with her and would make sense of the moment because she was so daring, insane, and in your face. That is liberating for any performer,” says Nolwazi.
Although the scene where she was shot by her mother, Petunia (played by Makhosazana Ndlovu), marked her exit from Scandal!, she tells us she's leaving the show with very fond memories.
“I am feeling good about my departure from Scandal!. It happened at the right time. You know when you play a villain character, it gets a bit exhausting and predictable and I think it's important to exit on our terms when we are in control of the story we want to tell.
“I feel like it happened at the right time but also for me, it can get emotionally taxing playing a character that is as intense as Mbali. I did have a concern at the back of my mind, I was like 'yoh' it's fun but I didn't want to be seen as just a villain.”
Fans of the show ate what you served, how did you do it? We ask. “The fact that we are both stubborn and determined is pretty much what we have in common,” she says with confidence.
She adds, “It was just performance 101 for me, so who is she, what is her goal, what is the story she is trying to tell and what message she is trying to get across and I stayed true to that. I mean I’d add elements of myself and end up spicing up her story, taking away from her but it is about the story being about uMbali. I had to understand who she is and what she was about.”
Her departure has also opened doors for her. She says she will be continuing as a casting director in the new season of Umkhokha.
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“I've also been working at TikTok for the past four years, I am a digital marketer. So, surprisingly I have a full-time job. I disappeared from the industry and started off another career completely in the digital world, so I've been working in the tech industry for a number of years now. I am also shooting a show that I can't speak of yet, and it's for a streaming platform,” she says.
Nolwazi never thought that she would be able to function in soapies, she says she was always worried about fitting in.
“I mean their style of performance is different but I ended up having one of the best times in my career doing it. I doubted my capabilities to be able to do honestly, so Scandal was exciting for me because I also got to discover something new about myself.”
She says she will miss the work environment, and the relationship she built with the cast members.
When asked to describe her real-life persona, she says she’s mostly found indoors at her home.
“I am a homebody. I have social anxiety, I don’t like hanging out a lot around people. I keep it a close circle, I’m a mom, just a regular person who likes being at home cooking, and chilling. I'm very straightforward, I’m clear about what I like and don’t like.”
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