With two decades in showbiz, thespian Phuti Khomo has a lot of tricks under her sleeve.
The former Miss South Africa Teen and humanitarian built a successful household name within the arts while doubling back into making waves within the business space. Speaking to TRUELOVE the trailblazing actress tells us about the second instalment of the series she stars in, her projects and more.
It all started when seeing her mother take spotlight as a beauty pageant queen and making cameos on television, it sparked love within young Phuti for her dreams. Taking the baton from her mother, she dedicates her success to her beloved mother.
With her overly calculated moves when choosing the right roles, it’s no surprise that we see her in a number of telenovelas as she says that she always comes out for the right roles.
With the new season of Entangled, it's no exception.
Expected to make a stellar return for its second season on 1Magic, 2 November 2023; Entangled serves a good dose of love, laughter, and the quintessential entanglements that make the series irresistibly enticing, exploring a whirlwind of situationships.
With new faces joining the new season, season two opens with the complicated yet magnetic journey of Sharon (played by Phuti Khomo) and Sizwe (played by Sisanda Henna - formerly played by Vuyo Ngcukana), which will have viewers glued to the screen.
Phuti shares her thoughts on Sisanda taking over the Sizwe character. She says, “He is amazing. He is willing to go for it [and] it is always nice when you have people who are like that on set, who will do whatever the character needs and whatever it takes for us to be able to get the shots that we need to get. He did his own research in terms of watching the previous season."
Compared to the first season, Phuti says there’s a difference between the seasons, though she hopes it keeps the same feel as the first instalment.
“There's a difference. I am just hoping, because I haven't watched it yet, that the feel of the show is still the same. We try our best to keep the feel of the show the same everybody has a mandate in terms of every single thing in terms of lighting, the way you shoot it, how quick the scenes need to be and how quick you need to edit the scenes close to each other [etc] because they play a role in creating a feel of the show.
“The first season was amazing, the way they did all of that and in terms of the acting, and us having a quick dialogue being these people that have portray a great relationship with each other,” the actress says.
Phuti knew she was destined for the motion picture life admiring her favourite stars on TV.
“My journey in the industry has been so interesting but obviously, everybody wants to be on TV. It all got sparked from being just a young girl and watching my favourite stars on television. Both my grandparents from a paternal and maternal were very interested in TV and I think in my neighbourhood like we were like the first few people to have like a colour TV, so it was a great thing to see all these people doing these amazing things and we got interested in seeing South African shows,” she recalls.
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Her winning Miss South Africa in 2000 afforded her the opportunity to further her acting career.
Not only that but with her mother being a former beauty queen and appearing on a show it showed Phuti that this too can be possible for her, following in her footsteps. However, her school principal also played part into prompting her into arts school.
“She showed me that this is possible because she did a cameo appearance on some of these shows. So, my mom saw my interest and took me to an art school, but she was prompted more by my principal at Nigel High School in the East Rand, and I took part in the play there and I had the lead character.
“[My principal] called my mom to come in and told her that she should not waste my talent and take me to an art school. So, I was taken out of that school to an art school where I studied drama. I was super excited I was doing what I loved studying what I loved, and the rest is history from then I got an agency and castings,” she says.
Mirroring her mother as a model, modeling piqued her interest from a young age and with the help of her mother, she was able to compete for titles earning herself a title of being Miss South Africa Teen, saying “it meant everything” to her.
“It meant everything. I've been modelling since I was six years old, actually, I've been modelling since I was young because I saw my mom's pictures, I used to hear about what my mom used to do, and she saw that I took an interest in all of that. She pushed me in that direction. So, she did everything she could to enroll me in [beauty pageants] and so when we heard about Miss South Africa Teen in 2000, we were so excited. My mom was just like, ‘we don't have to wait all the way to enter for Miss South Africa’,” the beauty queen tells us.
However, things didn’t go as she planned when she entered the first time but with dreams of turning her modeling career into a success, she entered a second time.
“It was huge and then it was all I was praying about every night in my prayers, that's all I was praying about and the first year I tried but I didn't get through the first round because I was so unprepared. I went there. I hadn't picked up my clothes, I hadn't done my hair, there was no preparation no nothing [but] the second time around my mom was like ‘you are not going to miss this opportunity’,” Phuti says; adding that “We did my hair, got clothing and my friends in school were preparing me [by] asking me questions that you could get. So, there was no way that I wasn't going to get it because everything.
“For me to be able to win that title it was not you could say it was ‘chance meets preparation’ [rather] it was an ‘opportunity meets preparation’ and it worked because I was super prepared.”
Phuti has grown into a formidable woman taking space and empowering others. She started an initiative Phuti Khomo Modeling Expo to enhancing the lives of young women.
Already in accord with the modeling world, she says “it was really important for me to come up with ways to protect the people in the industry and to create opportunities for them because not everybody who is in a particular industry will always flourish or get an opportunity to work within that industry.
“I'm a product of the modeling industry, so, I thought because there were so many kids who were coming to me and saying, ‘I want to be a model’, I created the Phuti Khomo Modeling Expo (PKME) as a safe space for children to be scouted by regulated and vetted agencies. So, all the agencies that come to the PKME are agencies that are vetted by us and agencies that we know that are credible.
“That's why we also encourage parents to be part of their children's careers, especially as children who want to be in the modelling industry, because if you don't have anyone guiding you, either agencies will exploit parents because they charge parents exorbitant amounts of money for joining fees and [more] and so parents are desperate to have their children on TV or on posters. So, they will go to the ends of the earth for their kids,” says Phuti; adding that “We had to create the space for not just the models or the wannabe models, but for parents themselves to be educated about the industry and to know what the boundaries as a parent are, as a guardian for your child.”
Although the initiative is for a good course, it also faced obstacles like any other business or project.
She says, “My personal challenges, number one, we had to put the workshops on hold because one, it was so difficult to secure a sponsor. We had a sponsor and then a sponsor pulled out last minute. And then we had to do a workshop in Limpopo now that we had to cancel. It was heartbreaking and that was a huge challenge for us to get all of that sorted out and make sure that everybody gets refunded.”
Including a high demand of kids wanting to join.
Phuti’s work not done yet as she tells us she’s more into business than acting. Though we might not see her on TV, she’s watering her business side of things.
“Every day is always something next. I am more into business than I am into acting. I always come out for the right roles; I don't come out for acting. So, I knew that here in South Africa, it's not something that I'm going to have to make a living on because if I make a living on it, then it will end up being so bad for me because I know the kind of lifestyle I want to live.
“So, I thought you've got to do something that brings in money so that you don't kill your passion for acting and then you take the roles that you know that we can do. I have always loved business because my mom was a businesswoman and we've always been working at her company. So, I knew eventually from a very young age that I'd have my own business, but I didn't realize how important it was for me to have it until I saw what was happening in the industry,” Phuti says.
Adding that “But, the ultimate dream is Phuti the humanitarian. If I could just have things my way, I would be focusing on this and this alone. I am doing a project called Tsoga Mo Africa, aimed at growing the economic situation or economic empowerment for Black people in townships.”
