There’s nothing sexier than a woman who knows her way in all that she does. These are my thoughts about actress Hlubi Mboya as we sit in the Isidingo boardroom and do our interview.
Ever since she stumbled onto our screens as Cherel’s domestic worker ten years ago, Hlubi has been a popular face on SABC 3’s soap opera Isidingo, playing the role of Nandipha Sithole – Matabane.
The 32-year-old actress who hails from Cape Town (The Mother City) is a strong willed young woman and says she is determined and always wants to achieve her best and see others smiling and satisfied.
She tells the story of how she broke into acting, “My high school teacher told me I should follow it up after playing Juliet in a school play, and from there I have never looked back”
In Isidingo, her character has been through a lot of heartache and trauma; she was married to Abednego, who infected her with the HIV virus, faced discrimination because of the disease. When she thought she had found her happiness and married Parsons Matabane (Tshepo Maseko), she faced a different kind of discrimination with her in-laws, especially her father in-law Zeb (Mlangeni Nawa) who never really accepted her, because of her status. Illness fell upon her and spent months in hospital, and when she recovered she got a huge gig, going around the globe being a spokesperson for HIV/Aids, on her return to find her husband back in the arms of his long time love Thandi (Sarah Ngubeni).
Hlubi admits that having to play all those emotions was draining but as a focused actress she did her job. “It is very important to find ways to reinvent yourself, as a person and your character. Keeping myself on my own toes and the public too and I am very grateful for the awesome storylines I get to be in”. Nandipha still hasn’t found true happiness as her relationship with former soccer star Skhumbuzo ‘ACE’ Nzimande (Sisa Hewana) has a lot of ups and downs.
Not only is she an ambassador for HIV on screen, but she is also the face of many campaigns that promote better life all across the continent, including the KFC HUNGER CAMPAIGN. She explains how it is to be part of such a campaign with fellow Isidingo actor Jack Devnarain and US musician Christina Aguilera “Africa is a continent of starvation, it is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with urgently, and I am just there to help a hand in any way that I can”. This campaign was set up in Commemorating World Hunger Relief Week and to help raise awareness for the issue of hunger around the world.
Global hunger has reached epic proportions affecting more than 1 billion hungry people around the world. This campaign also aims to help these children to know how it feels to be part of a family.
“Family is very important to me, my father is very proud of the work that I do, being an ambassador for all the charities that I do”. She admits that being part of a great family is the one thing that keeps her grounded and doing such a great job, “I am happy with the type of support my family has been giving me, without them I really don’t know where I would be.”
Her father is an academic that believes in helping others and being a good ambassador and great help to all those that need it. “I love my family, we are a united family and when I am home, I am treated just like any other child”
However with all the work she does, she does admit that one needs some time out to reflect and just relax. “A good meal, book, glass of wine and being with my loved ones does it for me”. Mboya says every girl needs that time out and to spend time with loved ones, and being with the one you love. She has been in a committed relationship with her boyfriend for the past seven years, “I’m a one man woman, and I love that, but very accessible. So if you want to say hi, look but don’t touch” says Mboya laughing.
She has also been featured on the SABC 2 hit show Strictly Come Dancing, “It was certainly the best time of my life, and I learnt six new Latin American dances. As a woman, the costumes were also fabulous. It involved a lot of training and discipline and it's amazing how far you can push your body. I would do it all over in a heartbeat”. She has also been ranked SA’s sexiest woman five times.
cCatch Hlubi on ISIDINGO Monday – Friday 18H30 on SABC 3, c