ACTRESS Nelisiwe Sibiya finds comfort after a major nomination amid backlash.
Nelisiwe Sibiya (33), from Eshowe, KZN, said since transitioning into acting, she has never played a character that made people hate her until now.
After her powerful portrayal of Zamahlobo Ntanzi in iThonga, many viewers struggled to separate her from her character and ended up disliking her, personally.
Despite this, Nelisiwe is happy her role has earned her a top nomination at the Saftas for Best Actress in a Telenovela.
Nelisiwe, who has appeared in leading Mzansi productions, including Durban Gen, Umkhokha: The Curse, and Scandal!, told Daily Sun she has received many nominations in her career, but this one is special to her.
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"I overcame many challenges playing this character because the bad things my character did on the show made many people hate me, personally. It was difficult to see people failing to differentiate between my character and I and ended up hating me.
"On the other hand, I told myself hate means I have nailed the character, and in the end, I'm happy the character is being nominated. The nomination is a win for me, but I'm hoping to win," she said.
Nelisiwe said the nomination also comforts her, as she has faced backlash since moving from being a recording artist in 2018.
"People forget I studied both music and acting because I was studying Musical Theatre at Tshwane University of Technology and graduated in 2018.
"I released a lot of music, but in 2018 I stopped because my ancestors told me to pause the music and focus on acting," she said.
Nelisiwe added that she may still record new music in the future, as music is part of her ubungoma journey.
