South African actress Thuso Mbedu, who is making waves in Hollywood, has thanked the masses for the love and support they have shown her since she made her debut in Hollywood as Cora in “The Underground Railroad”.
Taking to Instagram, Thuso posted a picture of herself standing in front of a billboard with her face on it with a message to her fans.
“My fellow South Africans! Y’all showed up and showed off with the love.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you guys.
“From wanting to set aside a day to working on the dance (choreographed by Hungani Ndlovu) to rocking out in sneakers because they are my favourite thing: Thank you, I love you SA,” Thuso said.
Last month, Thuso, who is the first South African to lead a US television series, made an appearance on “The Daily Show”.
The series follows a young enslaved woman who escapes a Georgia plantation, making use of an underground railroad to journey to freedom.
“I heard of ’The Underground Railroad’ in November 2018 while I was in New York for the International Emmy Awards,” Thuso told “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah.
“I did the first audition and sort of just forgot about it because I didn’t think anything of it. After I came to LA in 2019 … I got a callback and Barry Jenkins wanted to meet me the next day!
“At the end of it, he looked at me and he said, ’you are the character’,” Thuso said.
The star said she had to unlearn her previous knowledge of slavery.
“I realised early on that I had a lot of unlearning to do to learn the truth, in the sense that what I knew about the enslaved body in America was shaped by media in a very white male gaze, so that serves a particular agenda.
“So I had to throw all of that away and completely be open to new information,” she said.
Leading up to the release of “The Underground Railroad”, Thuso took to social media to speak about working with director Barry Jenkins.
“Working with Barry was amazing. It was one of the easiest things I've done. He makes it easy, man.
“It’s like having a conversation — an easy, flowing, unforced conversation.
“We all knew and understood what we were working towards and, through collaboration, we were able to help each other get there,” Thuso said.
This originally appeared on IOL
