So I wanna be an actor…

Yeah…I want to be an actor. I can’t deny it anymore, it’s like coming out, I guess. I want to win an Oscar at 43 and receive a Lifetime-achievement award at 72.
This is not out of the blue, as some of you might think. This has been coming for a while now. Don’t get me wrong, I love theology and Jesus and the church (although church politics pisses me off), but I don’t want to be a minister in the traditional sense of the word.
Everyone I talk to about it tells me do to both. And if you think of it, that’s not such a bad idea. I would love to be a part of inspirational films such as Pay It Forward or Narnia or Bridge To Terabithia, to name but a few. “The greatest reward that life can give is working hard at work worth doing” isn’t it?
I think I fell in love with acting the day I met my oldest friend, Marike van Zyl, in 1989 when we were 5 years old. The first game we ever played together was “being characters”. We have held concerts throughout our entire childhood, pretending and writing and directing at school and church and just plainly in their garden or on our farm. Our imaginations were running wild.
In high school this love for acting was endorsed be my English teacher, Mrs Deanne Struwig, casting me in lead roles and even giving me drama classes for a year at Concerto Grosso Art School. I don’t think she ever realised what importance she had in my life, and still has.
So why didn’t I go and study acting? Because I was told to go do something that will provide me with a job that a Black guy can’t get before me. So I went to study theology to become a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church, something “to fall back on”.
I don’t know, maybe I thought that in time the passion for acting will die – theologious studies at South African universities can take 4 to 6 years, minimum.
But the flame didn’t die. In fact, after being an extra in an upcoming Afrikaans teen-movie, Bakgat, it was rekindled. I just realised: this is where I come alive! This is what I would love to do, day in and day out.
The past few days I realised that everything that has happened to me so far in my life wasn’t in vain -in fact, it has prepared me for what lies ahead. Looking back at the bigger picture, I can see that God’s hand was there every step, and I can’t wait to see where the road with Him is going to take me (but it would be nice if it is to the stage at the Academy Awards! 😉 )
So, yeah, I want to be an actor. I still love Jesus and theology and the DRC, but I want to be an actor. there, I’ve said it.
(P.S. If anyone knows of a good agent, give me a shout, will you?)