Terry Pheto

From Jozi to Hollywood

Terry Pheto. Photo courtesy www.sowetanlive.co.za

Terry Pheto’s rise to stardom reads like a Cinderella story: the Jozi born-and-bred beauty, who lived in a Soweto shack until the age of 21, was an unknown actress in a township theatre troupe when she was discovered during the casting process for an Oscar-winning movie. Just a few years on, the 29-year-old actress has a number of movies to her name, is a brand ambassador, has graced numerous magazine covers and is on her way to Los Angeles to further her career.

The rest, as they would say in Hollywood, is history.

Pheto has always had a bent for the theatrical. According to entertainment website JucyAfrica, she would while away the hours as a child listening to her grandmother’s stories, then imaginatively retell the tales to her friends, earning herself the nickname “storyteller”.

It was this same dramatic flair that led her to join a theatre collective in Soweto, where she was spotted by agent Moonyeen Lee during the casting process for the 2005 film Tsotsi. Pheto landed the female lead in the film, receiving international acclaim for her portrayal of the soft-hearted Miriam.

Though Tsotsi proved to be a South African success story, picking up the Oscar for Best Foreign Film at the 2006 Academy Awards, Pheto didn’t allow herself to become complacent. In 2006 she landed a supporting role in the Phillip Noyce-directed Catch a Fire and in Sekalli le Meokgo. She subsequently landed roles in the movies Goodbye Bafana (2007) and Mafrika (2008).

Pheto has also been active on the local television scene, starring in the series Hopeville, which aims to inspire South Africans to take action for good, and Zone 14, a series that focuses on the daily lives of two warring families.

A familiar face on magazine covers and billboards, Pheto joined the company of stars such as Jennifer Aniston, Penélope Cruz, Beyoncé Knowles and Kerry Washington when she joined international cosmetics company L’Oréal as a brand ambassador.

When this local beauty is not working on a new movie, shooting or dashing off to a media interview, she can be found treating herself to spa days or weekends away – or enjoying the simple things in life, such as home cooking, visiting her family or spending a day in bed.

But family visits will prove a rare pleasure for the foreseeable future: Pheto has won a scholarship to study film production at the Los Angeles campus of the renowned New York Film Academy. Once she’s completed her course, she hopes to return to South Africa and plough back the skills she has learnt abroad.