Thuso is ready for battle

From Pelham to the world, Thuso Mbedu made her big-screen debut with The Woman King. The star talks about her new life in the Hollywood Hills, her battle with depression and her exciting purpose-filled plans for the future.

- By Sanelisiwe Maliza. Photographs by Kwaku Alston

It used to be easy to spot a Hollywood actor, her skin fair, hair blonde and face plastered with makeup. They looked like everything I wasn't.

Thuso Mbedu, on the other hand, has short, lusciously kinky hair. During our video call, her makeup is barely there - if at all. Right next to her is a bulky one-litre bottle of water, the sort you carry around everywhere, only to have a few sips and forget about. When interviewing a celebrity, a dance usually happens, an air of pretence mixed with nervousness that results in high-pitched fake laughter. Thuso, surprisingly, doesn't play along with that act.

Perhaps it's the excitement of talking to someone from back home. Or, maybe, this is how she is every day. But the conversation flows - it's almost as if she's talking to a friend she's known for a long time.

"With a green passport, it's hard to get excited until things are confirmed, confirmed. Mina ngidikidwa ngama visa manje," she says about her travel plans for The Woman King press tour. She performs the classic South African switch-up, seamlessly moving from one language to another without skipping a beat.

To borrow a Hollywood phrase, she's what you'd describe as a relatable girl next door. This time, we're not talking about white picket fences but her home, where there are stop nonsense, polished red floors, and she blasts Tamia on Saturday mornings as she and her grandmother do the cleaning.

While Thuso's relatable, nothing about her life at the moment is. From red carpets to counting one of the greatest actresses of our time as a friend, she's as Hollywood as they get.