Los Angeles-based South African actor Thuso Mbedu - a two-time International Emmy nominee, might we add - has a confession to make at the start of our Zoom interview...
"I ate pizza this past Sunday and now I'm worried about how I'm going to look for the WH shoot tomorrow," she blurts out in isiZulu. "You reckon that Sunday pizza has done a lot of damage?" I ask, trying to reassure her that she has absolutely nothing to worry about. In any case, it's already Wednesday. Pizzagate was three days ago. "A hundred percent," she retorts, a tinge of guilt lingering in her voice. "I shouldn't be eating any types of breads and I'm lactose intolerant. Usually, when I eat dairy, I get bloated for two weeks - so I went and did everything I'm not supposed to do!"
Thuso may be agonising over this supposed slip in judgment, but it's hard to view her as anything less than a queen. The 31-year-old's kick-ass performance in Amazon Prime Video's The Underground Railroad earned her several nods of approval from Oprah Winfrey. The talk show queen gushed in a lengthy Instagram post, shared with her 20 mil+ followers: "...@thuso.mbedu gives the performance of a lifetime. Great things are coming for her and everyone will be saying her name after watching her as the superhero that is Cora." Then days later, during a virtual interview with Thuso, Oprah remarked: "I have never, ever in this lifetime seen as consistent a performance as you have given in The Underground Railroad." Listen. Here!
A FOR EFFORT
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