Actor Matthews Rantsoma of Scandal! has disclosed that his pursuit of acting was sparked by his experiences as a bullied child.
Rantsoma, who is from Thembisa in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, told Sunday World this week that he has been acting his entire life.
“I started off in the township, then went to The Market Theatre. Scandal! was my big break onto the small screens,” Rantsoma said.
“As a person, you need an escape, so acting for me was that form of escape from the bullying, and it worked.”
Rantsoma, who plays the character of Nhlamulo, stated that he never imagined he would make it this far and that he only expected it to last three months.
I learned a great deal from Nhlamulo
“Initially, that is what I thought in the beginning because when the brief came, it required language with one of those benefits, and it required me to speak tsosti taal.
“It then became intentional for me to really go into different languages and see what came up.”
In regards to character development, he stated that he has learned a great deal from Nhlamulo and has applied some of it to his own life.
“I’ve implemented how Nhlamulo loves and sees black people. Nhlamulo has an impact on me personally, but the character itself is that he is a lover and leads with his heart.”
When he was first introduced to the show, Nhlamulo was constantly breaking the law. However, he finally fell in love with Lindiwe.
After getting married, the couple welcomed a daughter named Larona into their family, but sadly, Lindiwe passed away.
Falling in love again
After being a single father for a while, Nhlamulo found love once more in Vuvu, the mother of his two sons, and they were married.
Now he is faced with the dilemma of being told that his daughter is not his.
“It’s been interesting, and I think the Nhalmulo and Lindiwe storyline got me to a point where honesty was a thing. We had to be honest with every single scene that we did.
“I never thought that we would be this close, but it happened, and the chemistry was just flowing. With Nhlamulo getting married again, I questioned it for a long time, but the journey has been interesting.”
Since he is not a parent, Rantsoma stated that it has been extremely challenging to play the role of a parent.
The challenges of parenting
He explained: “I don’t fully understand the feelings that a parent would go through, so I had to do research to get an idea of how it feels.
“I then realised that there was a lot of pain, sadness, and confusion, but at the end of the day, you have to do what’s right.
“I had to be honest and natural about the baby situation because if I tried to put on any other reaction, it would read differently.
“Nobody can just hand over the baby they have been raising for so long, and so naturally, you are going to deny everything, even though its true.”
Rantsoma stated that viewers should expect the unexpected from Nhlamulo, as he may reveal a different aspect of himself to them.
