Actress Xolile Tshabalala sat down with BONA to discuss her recent role in the Netflix drama series, Blood Legacy.
The 20-episode drama series, which premiered on the popular streaming platform Netflix, is based in KwaZulu-Natal and follows the lives of three siblings at war for the reins of their father’s multi-billion-rand company, Spear Industries.
At the forefront of the series is Khanyisile Ndlovu Adesina (played by Xolile Tshabalala), the daughter of the CEO, who lives and works as a journalist in Cape Town. Khanyi was hand-picked by her father with hopes for her to run the company and revive it.
Meanwhile, Xolile Tshabalala is no stranger to the acting industry. In the past, she has been known to have appearances in many of mzansi’s top productions with a list of shows that include 4Play: Sex Tips for Girls, Secrets & Scandals, Blood & Water, and Housekeepers just to name a few.
In conversation with BONA, the talented actress provided more insights into what has set her most recent role apart from the rest she has done. She shared that her role as Khanyi was to clean up her father’s legacy while being determined to make a change, in contrast to this, she explained that her role in the 2020 Netflix series: Blood and Water as Nwabisa Bhele was more of a desperate character.
She says, “She just wants to clean her father’s legacy. Even though sometimes it’s hard for her, she wants her family name to be upholded in a better light than just being. Where part of the rich, wealthy people are mostly followed by scandalous affairs, she just wants to clean up her family legacy in Spear.”
Speaking on her portrayal of Khanyi, Xolile said, “I just love the fact that Khanyi is an independent and powerful woman, who is just comfortable in her skin. It’s also nice to see black women not make excuses and be unapologetically themselves.”
Touching on her preparation for roles like these, she explained that each time she is approached to portray a new character, her goal is firstly to identify her target audience.
“I asked myself, who do I want to inspire when playing this character, given that Khanyisile is a CEO so the answer would be young people who want to be CEOs one day. So at the moment, I know exactly who I’m doing this for.”
Xolile noted that this approach to her current role as well as others has led to her delving deeper into the complexities of her character, and gave her a better understanding of what is needed for her character to have an impact on the audience.
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She further explained that when channelling a new character, she draws up a timeline for the character and goes through a journey with them.
“Another question I ask myself as an actor, is what kind of a bird would she be? And then I walk like that bird for a while, I observe that bird and see how it functions then I know who the character is and by the time I get on set, I’ve got my material as I understand the background story of the character.”
Sharing her experience on the Blood Legacy set, Xolile said that she worked with amazing directors and thanked the cast and crew for their hard work throughout the filming process. She also emphasised the importance of respect in the workplace, highlighting the importance of co-workers respecting one another regardless of one’s role on set. Meanwhile, she also described working alongside director Nozipho Nkelemba as a full circle moment, as they previously worked closely together on Intersections.
Sadly, at the time of the series premiere, the South African movie industry had lost veteran actress Connie Chiume, who played the matriarch role of Madlamini Ndlovu in the series. As the actress worked closely with the late veteran actress on set, she remembered Connie, as someone who was fun, adding that she loved to travel to set with her because she always gave her pearls of wisdom.
“She was fun, she was funny, she was hilarious, and you would not see her sitting in the corner as she had a naughty streak about her, but she was just love.”
Blood Legacy became one of the most popular TV shows on Netflix South Africa, gaining over 1,5 million views in the first week.
As we hope for a season 2, Xolile ended the interview by saying, “One day we will know and that day will be closer than you think.”
Catch Blood Legacy on Netflix.
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