Eyes on the camera

Maria Nepembe has hopes of developing her acting career and securig more international acting gigs after she was recently involved in a movie that was shot in London. She chats to tjil about her acting plans and being behind the scenes as a director.
June Shimuoshili
Renowned model and Big Brother Africa 2013 housemate Maria Nepembe is no stranger to the small screen and says it is something she was doing for a long time - since high school.

“When I was a student at the University of Namibia I had training in theatre and when I moved to Ghana I also acted in a local series there,” she shared. The model turned actress says she's acted alongside Ghanaian acting heavyweights such Jacky Apia and Yvonne Nelson in a recent movie production.

“What I love about acting is that you get to step into a character's shoes and portray that character according to the script. I recently shot a movie in Nigeria where I had to play as a blind girl and I had to do research on the behaviour of blind people, their facial expressions and how they react to many other things. Acting is very complex,” she shared.

She said locally she's acted in three film productions, one her highlights being the movie Fish out of Water. Nepembe says local film producers, scriptwriters and actors have a lot of potential and are growing the film and theatre industry in Namibia.

“When it comes to the quality of our films and the talent of our performers, Namibia is unmatched.

Our actors are professional and everything is so organised compared to when I was in Western Africa,” she expressed.

She was recently involved in the production of a movie shot in London titled Coming to London. The script revolves around a Ghanaian man who goes to London and falls in love with a girl (played by Nepembe) in London.

“I got to work with really huge stars such Ik Ogbonna and I was really happy that I was allowed an opportunity to be myself and express my acting abilities while I was shooting in London,” she told tjil.





The actress mentioned that the gigs abroad have opened her up to the film industry and says she is going to take every opportunity to become a well-known actress. “I got to meet incredible actors from around the world and so far my acting experience has opened a lot of doors for me to connect and work with many other people.”

Without revealing too much see says that she's already bagged another film production for 2018 and says she will be shooting for the film very soon.

“I am going to shoot a film in March in Cape Town and that is one of the things I am most excited about this year,” she said.

Her main focus right now is growing her business and working in other fields because she is getting too “old” for modelling.

“I think I am old for modelling now. I will focus mainly on print-photography when it comes to modelling because I love it. I am a businesswoman and I want to grow in those areas, she said.

Besides acting Nepembe has hopes of developing the local film industry by stepping into a more production-based role. “I want to have my own production company and employ photographers, videographers, actors and many others. The plan is to get proper equipment and a crew that can work on local productions and I hope to work on three productions by the end of the year,” she shared.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-23

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