THE year 2022 has been dubbed as the year of actress Zikhona Sodlaka!
The 2022 South African Film and Television Awards and DStv Mzansi Viewers' Choice nominee will be starring in Blood Psalms on Wednesdays and The Wife on Thursdays.
In Blood Psalms, she plays Sithenjwa, the mistress of Senator Jabari.
She travels with him to the Akachi citadel for the upcoming wedding of King Letsha, but she has her own reasons for attending.
"Sithenjwa poses as a concubine, but she's more than what meets the eye. Her entire mission is to continue the legacy of her family and set things right by her sister and the gods.
"It's a story that sets women as powerful creatures. It leans a lot towards the times of queendom when the world was led by powerful women.
"Just imagine the immense power of what the world was when queens used to run the world. I call it the African Game of Thrones because it's epic. It's a game-changer," she said.
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"I hope people will be reminded of who they are, and who black people were before colonialism. It's pre-everything! It is pre-colonialism, pre-borders, and it is before the division of the countries in the continent. It was free rein. People could travel from any part of the continent to another. I hope that we get that vision of ourselves while watching the series," she said.
Zikhona said it is exciting to be part of something that sets the standard.
"And the standard is high. I don't want anything else for myself and for my career. I've had a privilege to be part of some groundbreaking productions. It's becoming a habit.
"It's an honour. It's a confidence booster. It's also a reminder that South Africans are watching and they know what they want. It's a reminder that these are the kind of stories we want to see as South Africans.
"We want to see ourselves reflected on screen. We are patriotic in that way. Tell us stories that reflect us," she said.
Speaking about Mandisa on The Wife, she said: "This is probably the most honest character I've ever portrayed. I love how extremely brave she is and how she's unafraid of wearing her heart on her sleeve.
"They don't write characters like Mandisa on television. Every woman has to be perfect, neat and speak a certain way. Mandisa is the opposite of what women characters in South Africa are written as. But I know a lot of Mandisas in real life."
There aren't many similarities between Zikhona and Mandisa.
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"She's Xhosa and I'm Xhosa, that's all. We're very different. I'm shy and quiet in real life, so it's been really lovely playing somebody so loud. That's one of my favourite things about her: her imperfection.
"Everything about her is so wrong to a person like myself, who likes to hold back. But to Mandisa, it doesn't matter what she sounds or looks like.
"Which is something that was quite a sore point for me in Season 1 because I had just had a baby and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, do I want to play this role? Shouldn't I wait until I'm a size eight again?' Playing her has taught me to be a little more brave," she said.
