'I Don't Believe In Failure'

Actress Amanda du-Pont, 30, on her new Netflix series, doing her own stunt work, and what ‘making it’ means to her

Amanda grew up on a farm in Eswatini (Swaziland) before moving to South Africa with her family. she first appeared on sa screens in a McDonald’s commercial and later went on to star in popular local soapies Generations, Muvhango, and Skeem Saam. now an actress and social media influencer, Amanda plays Ashley in Shadow, a new crime-drama from Netflix. she is engaged to businessman Shawn Rodriques.

My happiest childhood memories involve swimming and spending afternoons quad-biking on our family farm with friends.

Afterwards we’d sit down and tuck into the biggest feast because we would be starving. I also remember visiting my grandmother after school. She’s responsible for teaching me siSwati and, for some reason, a simple meal of tea and bread at her house tasted magical.

My parents are very proud of me and what I've achieved.

But I’m sure they were hesitant about me making a career in the arts – I think most parents would be nervous about that! I never had to tell them outright I wanted to be an actress; I’d been acting in every school production from the age of five, so it probably wasn’t a shock after all.

I'm not sure where my creative streak came from, but it’s a big part of me and always has been.

As a little girl I could spend hours drawing, designing fashion looks, writing poetry and performing on stage. My first professional job was in a McDonald’s TV commercial where I was singing into a burger. I still remember going to the casting for it – the queue was so long that we had to go back the next day. There were amazing singers, models and performers there to audition and I remember thinking that there must be something special in me, too.