DiepCity’s Nompumelelo Vilakazi shares her journey to stardom and reflects on award nominations

Johannesburg- Nompumelelo Vilakazi who is well known for her role as Snenhlanhla on Mzansi Magic’s telenovela DiepCity, has reflected on her journey to acting and the three Royalty Soapie nominations.

Vilakazi has overcome so much as an individual to get to where she is today.


Nompumelelo hails from a small town called Bergville in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

She said that she always loved acting but never got the chance to pursue it fully because of societal expectations.

During high school, she joined a group that did acting and that is where she formed the basic skills of her acting career.

Upon completing her matric, in 2017 the 23-year old actress furthered her studies at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, where she did her B.ED degree majoring in Geography and Life Sciences.

The DiepCity’s acting journey began when she was at home after the country went on lockdown.

She had been provided with data for schoolwork purposes and saw the opportunity to use the data and go on Instagram.

That is when she had started watching Blackbrain’s live video’s and she requested to be in one of their lives but failed.

“After many attempts to get into the Live sessions, Blackbrain’s Mandla N, finally accepted and just when I was about to audition, my network went AWOL on me, tried getting back on the live but failed. Mandla tried to get hold of me again, but unfortunately, he had spelled my name wrong so it was a mission to find me,” elaborates Nompumelelo.

Thereafter Nompumelelo started doing monologues, posting them on her social media pages and also made sure she tagged the right people. Eventually, Mandla reached out and by that time they had already done castings for another show, so she had to audition for the role that she currently plays on DiepCity.

“My life took a huge turn, I was working as an assistant educator earning a minimum wage at the time and I had now found myself, being thrown into the spotlight as an actress playing the role of Sne in DiepCity.”

Nompumelelo feels that being nominated for three Royalty Soapie awards is a big achievement given the fact that she has only played the role of Sne for a couple of months.

“I feel honored to have been nominated amongst the best of the best in the industry, and I have God, my ancestors and family to thank for that. It is very exciting to know that people recognize my craft and enjoy watching me grow as an artist,” she said.

Nompumelelo has been nominated in three categories for the Royalty Soapie awards, these categories are the outstanding newcomer, outstanding lead actress and the viewers choice best actress.

“It would be a great pleasure if my fans and viewers at home could vote for me, this means so much to me as an individual and a brand,” she further added.

The DiepCity actress said she is currently only busy on her role on DiepCity at the moment because it requires so much effort for her at times because she never studied drama.

The viewers and fans of DiepCity can vote for Nompumelelo Vilakazi by dialing *120*32020*3#, select your province, and scroll to number 20.

For the latest entertainment news from Sunday World, click here. 

Or read Winnie Ntshaba on the Royalty Soapie awards 

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