Nqobile “Nunu” Khumalo says acting saved her life. She doesn’t mean it in the dramatic, theatrical way the phrase is often used. For Khumalo, acting has been a divine calling with every role shaping both her career and the woman she has become.
Now 34, the actor and model has spent the past 15 years building one of Mzansi’s most impressive screen careers, making her television debut on Isibaya. Some of her other memorable performances have been in Scandal!, Red Ink, Uncovered, Fatal Seduction, High Infidelity, Lost in the World, High Rollers, and Meet Melusi. Khumalo has consistently proven herself to be one of the most compelling acts in the entertainment industry.
But her journey is far more than an enviable résumé. “Can I tell you something? It’s been a series of highs and blessings, and we all have different blessings in life,” she says. “Acting saved my life and I thank God for that because my ability to act comes from Him. I’ve got colleagues and friends in the industry and not everyone’s journey is easy or fruitful year after year, but God has kept me.”
You could be forgiven for mistaking her quiet melancholy for indifference, but when you look closer, there is a light within her — and it’s her humility. Throughout our conversation, she speaks with a profound sense of gratitude.
“Nqobile is a child of God. I love it by Christ, shem! The knowledge of Christ, man, is the best gift my parents could have given me. Beyond anything material and education, it’s knowing Christ and knowing that I can lean on Christ — because you need to,” she says. “In life, you’ve got seasons and sometimes it’s winter and other times it’s summer. But the seasons don’t last forever, and you need to be able to navigate and keep yourself together throughout those different seasons, you know? Acting is my ministry. My assignment is a big deal because these characters minister to people. God told me that I’m not here to be a star; I’m here to make sure everyone wraps in one piece and to be a catalyst for healing for all different types of groups in society. Storytelling is ministry, and I must always leave people better than I found them.”
Khumalo, dressed in an airy ivory co-ord set, and I are chatting on the upper deck of Glow Studio in Riviera, Joburg, soaking up the winter sun. She is an interviewer’s dream — by her own admission, she loves to talk. As she recalls her upbringing, her composed, petite frame comes alive, her animated gestures and infectious laughter revealing a natural-born storyteller.
“I grew up right here, in Northcliff. I wish I could say I’ve come from far and travelled here — nope!” Khumalo says. She and her family moved from Durban to Joburg when she was four, as her stepfather had received a job offer in marketing. She was scouted as a child model and later signed with a modelling agency for a few years.
On her cover shoot, Khumalo brings that same infectious energy. With each frame, she moves with grace, sculpting her body into poses that draw gasps and murmurs of approval from the crew. Strong-willed from a young age, Khumalo gravitated towards the stage, taking on lead roles in school productions that earned her “Best Actress” honours. By 16, she knew acting was her calling. But her ambitions were tempered by her parents’ reservations and the demands of school, forcing her to put that dream on hold.
“I remember it was 2009, and I played Lady Macbeth. The whole experience of being on stage was as though I was in heaven. And then it ended, and I had to be a student again; I’ve never experienced such a heartbreaking anticlimax. I was devastated. My heart, I needed to perform, and that was my everything,” says Khumalo, gently tapping her heart with her hand.
In her first year at university, Khumalo found her way back to acting. “While I was in my first year, a casting director from Bomb Productions found me on Facebook and said to me, ‘You’re supposed to be on television. I ignored it because I thought it was a scam, but he kept sending me messages. Eventually, he persuaded me to go to this audition,” she recalls. “That was my first commercial with them [Bomb Productions], and I was pinching myself, this stuff is real. Then I got my first [cameo] role on Isibaya with Bomb as well, and on my first day on the set, I promised myself, come hell or high water, I am going to act for a living. Nobody is ever going to take this away from me ever again.”
Khumalo’s talent has earned her recognition at film festivals abroad. She won Best Actress at the New Vision International Film Festival in Amsterdam for her portrayal of Hlengiwe Twala on Scandal! in 2019. Later, she received several other awards, including the prestigious Septimius Award, for her performance in the feature film Uncovered.
“People believe [acting] is glamorous. It’s not — it’s hard. We live in a country where you don’t have the luxury to pass over a project because you don’t know when your famine is scheduled,” she says. “Every actor has a period of waiting and breaks in between projects, and no-one is above the system, but that is how it works, so you’ve got to find a balance — be smart financially and maximise the time with your family and your friends when you’re not working. I’m 34, no children, no marriage. Sacrifices, I have paid for.”
In her latest role, Khumalo takes the lead as Mbali, a principled public prosecutor at the heart of Netflix’s Umthetho, premiering on 14 August. She shares the screen with Tony Kgoroge, Sindi Dlathu, Lorcia Cooper-Khumalo, Given Stuurman, and SK Khoza.
“I walked the journey with Mbali,” Khumalo says. “I don’t take playing a lead lightly. What I love most about her is her devotion to family. She loves herself, but it’s not the best thing about her. Her life revolves around those she loves, and I resonated with that because that’s the best thing about my life, which is that it doesn’t revolve around me; it would be so empty. My family illuminate my life. I hold Mbali dear to my heart. The audience will love and struggle with her sometimes, but family is family.”
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