Kim Engelbrecht becomes fifth African actress to be nominated for an International Emmy

South African actress Kim Engelbrecht’s golden statue from the recent South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) has barely had time to gather dust when she heard that she is in the running for yet another award.

Engelbrecht, who received a Safta for the Best Actress In a TV Drama for her role in M-Net’s crime thriller television series Reyka says the International Emmy nomination ‘means so much more than you could ever imagine’.

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“This serves as validation to our entire Reyka team that hard work and commitment does not go unnoticed. Congratulations Team Reyka. I saw a quote this morning: ‘You can get to where you want to go from exactly where you are’. Thank you to the International Emmys for the incredible nomination. Thank you for the opportunity to share our show with the world. South Africa has so many stories to tell.”

The actress who shot to fame as Lolly in the South African soap Isidingo has also had roles in series like Raised By Wolves and The Flash.

This is MultiChoice’s fourth International Emmy nomination in six years, building on Thuso Mbedu’s Best Actress nominations for Is’thunzi in 2017 and 2018, as well as The River’s nomination for Best Telenovela in 2019.

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Engelbrecht is just the fifth African actress to be nominated for the International Emmy, after Egyptian Menna Shalabi (Every Week On A Friday) in 2021, Thuso Mbedu (Is’thunzi) in 2017 and 2018, and Lerato Mvelase in 2010 and Brenda Ngxoli in 2007 for Home Affairs. Mbedu has gone on to star in The Underground Railroad and The Woman King to international acclaim.  

At the 2022 SAFTAs, Reyka won four Golden Horns: Best Actress (Engelbrecht), Directing (Catharine Cooke and Zee Ntuli), Scriptwriting (Dickson), and Cinematography (Tom Marais). It was also nominated for TV Drama, Best Actor (Hamilton Dlamini), Editing (Melanie Jankes Golden and Matthew Swanepoel), and Make-Up and Hairstyling (Theola Booyens). 

“This is a proud moment for Fremantle and MultiChoice. The series has been in development for many years, but we were confident from the off that this rich and compelling story would be one of our standout international dramas – we’re thrilled to see tid, Vice President Editorial, Global Drama at Fremantle.“

*Compiled by Xanet Scheepers