Where have you been, Faye Peters?
In the early 2000s, Vivian Majozi in Generations, brilliantly portrayed by Peters, became an inspirational TV figure by embodying the “dream girlfriend” for millennials.
She had more charm than an expensive box of chocolates, and her face card never declined. Jennifer Aniston’s “The Rachel” haircut in Friends had reached peak global popularity, but closer to home “The Vivian Majozi” was the hair inspo for many young women.
Peters’s big-haired character was unmatched, and by wearing her God-given voluminous coils with pride, she gave many women permission to emulate her. She reached such iconic status in pop culture that she inspired musician Sho Madjozi’s stage name.
In my September 2018 interview with the John Cena hitmaker, she shared that growing up she was fondly referred to as Majozi. She was given the nickname by her cousins because of her resemblance to the Generations character.
After appearing in the series The Wild in 2013, Peters vanished from our TV screens.
On a melting hot Saturday afternoon in December, I bump into her at the poolside of The President Hotel in Bantry Bay, Cape Town. She is a front-row guest for the sixth annual Cape Town Resort Collections, wearing an archival Imprint ensemble.
We lock eyes; she hasn’t aged, and it’s love at first sight. They say, “never meet your heroes”, but that cliche doesn’t apply here — Peters is warm, exuding genuine joy, and we “kiki” the afternoon away like a pair of old pals.
“I loved that character [Majozi] so much,” Peters says. “I felt like she was the strong woman we all want to see ourselves as. She was a single mother, a businesswoman and the strength we hope we would have when called upon to have that strength.”
A month later, we reconnect at a different poolside at Southern Sun Sandton’s San Deck rooftop restaurant at the luncheon for the Sunday Times’s coveted A-Listers 2026, where she has made the shortlist together with Khanyi Mbau, Thabsie and others.
Peters is a ray of sunshine in another Imprint design that was showcased on the runway in December when we first met at Cape Town Resort Collections.
“I loved working with the calibre of actors that I worked with [on Generations]. I worked with actors that I had watched as a child," she says.
“I was 20. I was the youngest person on the set until the actor who played Noah [Tafadzwa Kuuya] came along. It was enormous pressure on me but also a privilege. To have to find the courage inside myself to level up and not let them down in the scenes. If the scene is going to be good, you have to fire on all cylinders. I had to work with Sello Maake KaNcube, Connie Ferguson and Sthandiwe Kgoroge. I owe them my career.”
Peters returned to SA in 2019, on the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic. She had travelled to more than 50 countries, starting in Los Angeles and then heading east — Cuba, Britain, France and Morocco were some of her stops.
Scuba diving kept her busy, while she also focused on her business in manufacturing and distribution. But even when she was abroad, she felt the impact of Vivian Majozi.
She says it was a conscious decision to wear her natural hair onscreen.
“I was raised in a community that didn’t celebrate natural hair. Hair was supposed to be straight and blow-dried. In my rebelliousness I started wearing my Afro — it was take it or leave it,” she says.
“I wasn’t trying to be a role model; it was a resistance within myself. I wanted to be accepted as I am, and I wasn’t going to have any shame. It happened that there were so many who could relate to that.
“Even today, I walked into a restaurant in Cape Town, and a woman said, ‘When I was growing up, you were the only person who was wearing their hair like that, and that gave me permission to be myself.’ I don’t take that lightly because hair is so tied up with identity and belonging.”
Peters says that she’s also humbled by being the inspiration for Sho Madjozi’s stage name.
“I always found those moments humbling because I know she’s such a big star, and I’m so proud of her,” Peters says.
“It’s humbling to know the impact Generations had on SA. I appreciate having been part of that era in SA television that shaped popular culture.”
Having also acted in Jozi Streets, Beyond Borders, Oh Schuks ... I’m Gatvol! and Jozi H; Peters says if the right role finds her, she’s open to coming back to acting. But for now her focus is on motherhood, raising her 24-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son in Cape Town.
“People keep asking when I’m going to be back. It’s a different era. But why not? I love it,” she says. “It would take a decent offer. If the right role came along, I would do it. I would love to play Vivian Majozi again; she is by far my favourite thing that I have done because nothing has been appreciated to that extent.”
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