Veteran ‘Scandal!’ actor Luthuli Dlamini to open doors for aspiring actors

South African veteran actor Luthuli Dlamini, who is best known for his role as Stan Nyathi on e.tv’s soapie Scandal! has embarked on a journey to empower and nurture South African content creators and aspiring actors.

He is running a campaign to give 10 lucky rising actors a break into the industry, including supporting roles in his new production called Empty Love.

The popular actor’s journey to develop young talent is in partnership with growing South African telecommunications company Poket Mobile to not only give young actors a head start to fulfil their dreams, but also create alternative revenue streams for established influencers on all social media platforms across the country.

ALSO SEE: Battle of the pastors on ‘Uyajola 9/9’: ‘You used to go down on me’

Luthuli Dlamini’s career

The star’s career has extended over 30 decades and is still going strong.

“I have been doing plays since the age of 9 years and my initial grounding in the arts was theatre. What really gave me recognition from the people is Blue Orange, the play I did at the Liberty Theatre on the Square, where I was nominated for a best actor award. That led to a few more auditions where I finally landed myself the role of Stan Nyathi on Scandal! and that’s when everything started, my whole life just changed overnight,” said Dlamini.

Uplifting young actors

The legend’s passion for acting has driven him to start a campaign that will put the talent of aspiring young actors in the spotlight.

“We launched this campaign just a week ago and it is open for everyone, no matter what your age, who will create the best content on social media platforms like TikTok or Facebook, especially those who are interested in acting.

Fortunately we have partnered with a private company that also acknowledges and recognises the values of the creatives in the country. It is all about giving back to the community and putting money in people’s pockets and in the next two weeks, someone’s life is going to change forever.

About the campaign

“The creatives who will be part of this campaign will have to come up with good ideas and be innovative as well as think out of the box. By the time all of these creatives are finished, the public will vote for the best content creator,’’ said Dlamini.

The winner will be determined by the number of votes from the public and they have two amazing options to choose from.

“The winner will take home R200 000 cash and the other option they have if they do not want to take the money is signing a one-year contract with Poket Mobile, where they will be an ambassador for the company for a year and they will earn R50 000 a month. All the creatives have to do is produce any content that will go viral and get them votes so that they stand a chance to win,” he added.

ALSO SEE: Business as usual for Carol Bouwer amid Hawks investigation 

It takes a village to raise a child

The star says South Africa has a lot of talent that goes to waste because young people are not given opportunities to prove themselves, hence he wants to change all of that.

“What drives me to empower young people is because it takes a village to raise a child. I believe so much in the spirit of Ubuntu because that is how we have survived over the years and it is really sad that we are losing that in this world we are living in now. We all need to look after each other,” said the actor.

“The qualities I am looking for in the young actors is passion. When I see passion in someone else it inspires me. I want storytellers, people who can create unique content that will touch hearts and tell a story.

“The advice I want to give to them is they should find out what they love and do it. Focus on your own original content and think global. Be natural and tell your story,” said Dlamini.

Interested actors who think they have what it takes to blow social media users away can send their videos to www.poketmobile.com

Entries close on Wednesday, 23 November 2022 and the winner will be announced on the end of November.