Celeste Khumalo - The girl who is climbing the ladder of success
From pageants to making it onto the big screen, Celeste Khumlo is making significant strides in her acting career - and this is only the beginning...
Listen to Celeste Khumalo's interview or read the details under the podcast:
Celeste made a household name for herself when she was crowned Miss SA Teen in its final showing in 2011. She is now more commonly known for her iconic role in South Africa's most loved soapie, 'The Queen', as Linda, Shaka's devious baby mama.
From there, her love for being in front of the camera grew, which led her to closing down her nail bar to focus on her acting career.
Celeste is currently doing her MBA through Regenesys Business School and she's hoping to finish in April.
Her recent role in 'The Girl from St Agnes' has taken Showmax by storm. The show has been breaking records since it aired, as the number of unique viewers in the first 24 hours exceeded that of the previous record-holder, Tali’s Wedding Diary.
Watch the trailer below:
Celeste says her part in the show can be viewed as one which is influential to all young women, who aspire to push beyond the boundaries.
"The role I play is very dramatic and it touches on highly important issues surrounding women and young women, especially. Kholwa, the head girl, is an overachiever and strives for perfection in everything she does. She tries to keep her own image as well as the school's image clean. She works really hard to prove a point to a certain person at the school, which is also a cry for attention," said Celeste.
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Doing this role reminded Celeste of her high school days and brought back sweet memories.
"It was interesting to go back to high school. I went to an all-girls school which was Parktown Girls. I never wanted to be head girl but in a way I ended up being head girl of the country as Miss Teen SA. High school was really fun for me, I stayed out of trouble but was quite popular at the same time," she said.
Celeste explains her role challenged her in many ways, which 'hit home',
"The big issue is the drama that surrounds Kholwa, which has to do with her parents and being raised by a single mother and having parents who are not together. For me, that touched home. I know exactly what Kholwa was going through. It’s OK, I’ve moved on, but then you have to really bring that up again and show it emotionally on screen, that was hard," she said.
The pageant queen says the series is certainly a must-see, as it addresses issues which many South Africans face.
"It goes to the root of a lot of problems that adults face, because problems start in high school where you begin to find yourself. There are issues that start when someone is young and carry through into their adulthood, it’s eye-opening," said Celeste.
The advice which she leaves youngsters with is to always be positive.
"The world is a bigger place than high school. The issues that we face in high school do impact our lives but we should look at them with a positive outlook - there may be a way to work it out and put it behind you. For men at school, for boys at school, be aware of your actions towards the females at school," she said.
