Thandy Matlaila burns up the screen again
LYNDHURST - Local television and stage star, businesswoman and philanthropist Thandy Matlaila is returning to the screen in a brand new sitcom this year.
Having taken a year out of the entertainment industry to focus on her business, Matlaila is ready for a comeback, with a role alongside Thuli Thabethe, Zola Nombona and several unknowns in SABC1’s new sitcom, Ithuba Lokugcina, debuting on 11 February.
Translating to ‘life skills’ or ‘extra class’, Ithuba Lokugcina features a group of underachieving students forced together in a remedial class to help them pass the academic year. There they meet a heroic professor, who believes he can rescue the students from failure and turn them into the ‘brains’ they wish they were.
Matlaila plays clever, lazy anthropology student Mpumi, whose focus on gender studies reflects her feminism. Mpumi dislikes men, is combative, stubborn and political. But she is also intelligent, well-read, and views herself as a mother figure.
Like her two brothers, Matlaila is a prolific all-round entertainer, starring in numerous television dramas including award-winning Jerusalema and uGugu noAndile.
Her diversity was showcased in the groundbreaking cop drama, Streets of Mangaung, and in dance series ‘Isipantsula, for which she organised the choreography. Matlaila has also tried her hand at professional theatre, and continues to exercise her passion for educating youth by touring schools with a campaign, It’s Your Choice, which addresses teenage pregnancy. She was recently named an ambassador for Gauteng’s Department of Arts and Culture.
This former Bramley Primary and Waverley Girls High pupil fuses her lifelong love of dance with fitness fanaticism through a partnership with Medispace, and co-owns sports management company Aptitude Sport. The unstoppable Matlaila also runs her own PR business, Aptitude Consulting, through which she has done PR work for major shows and festivals, as well as organising a host of events.
Matlaila’s aims this year include renewed focus on her many charitable initiatives, including Bring-a-Tin, which collects clothes and tinned foods for Agape Children’s Home in Yeoville and the Central Methodist Church, and the annual birthday drive 27 Dresses, donating matric dance dresses to deserving, underprivileged matriculants. Last but not least, Matlaila hopes to publish her self-help pocket book, It’s ok in 40 Days.
With such a host of projects on her itinerary, this is sure to be an action-packed year for Matlaila, but this multi-talented, dynamic star is more than capable of rising to the challenge.
Details: www.aptitudeconsulting.co.za; @Thandyy
