Prince reaches for his Hollywood star
Prince Lukhele overcame many obstacles and is well on his way to achieving his dreams.
LOCAL entertainer, Prince Lukhele, has his eyes set on being a Hollywood star and is working his way towards his ultimate goal of working in the US.
The 23-year-old was a pupil at Brown’s School and said he battled with a speech impediment when he was younger and had ADHD.
From the age of eight, he said the spark for performing ignited inside him and started performing for his family at first and then for their friends as well. At school he would perform skits from Madam and Eve for his Grade 2 class and found that other classes would come through to watch him perform. “It is the only thing I know,” said Prince.
“Due to my learning problem, I had people telling me that I would amount to nothing and that my dreams would never come true. For someone so young, you take those things to heart. It was a truly hurtful period in my life as when you say something like that to a child, it tends to stick with them. But it couldn’t knock me down, I am entertainer, even when I speak.
“I watched the greats who were told they would never have achieved stardom and now the world is their oyster. That is where I drew my inspiration from,” said Prince.
He continued performing despite the negative comments he was bombarded with and his Grade 6 teacher, Melanie Visagie, noticed his talent and pushed him to continue with his passion.
Initially, he said his family thought if he wasn’t studying something academic that it wasn’t worth more than a year of studies, but they have now become the backbone of everything that he does and is the reason he has been able to achieve so much in such a short space of time. Prince studied drama at the South African State Theatre for one year and ten studied theology and public speaking in Pietermaritzburg at the Union Bible Institute.
Prince works alongside his mother at her NPO, Melitha Development, creating HIV/AIDS awareness in the Valley of 1 000 Hills, and has made a few entrances on local television programmes such as High Rollers and Generations as a cameo actor. He was also an insert presenter for Bona Retsang, which aired every Monday and Wednesday and Friday on SABC 1. “There is so much that I would like to achieve and once I have reached my goal, I hope to inspire young people to reach for their dreams. This, I believe, is my ultimate goal,” said Prince.
He dreams of one day presenting on the local show Top Billing and his international dream is to reach Ryan Seacrest level and host American Idols. “I have been on this journey since I was 17 and only landed my first show when I was 21. I come from a family where I was told that if you wanted something, we had to work hard for it,” he said. “A big thank-you goes out to my mother, Maureen, my sister, Tebogo, and Melanie for their continued support and encouragement.”
Follow Prince on Instagram at @Prince_Khele or on Twitter at @therealestprince.
