uMgeni resident stars in BBC show
Rebecca Eggersglusz, a Northlands Primary School pupil played the part of Bashira, an Afghan, in a BBC show recently.
EVERYONE in Hollywood has a story to share about how they landed their big acting break and for Durban North resident, Rebecca Eggersglusz, it was no different. The 12-year-old recently made her acting debut in the BBC drama Our Girl which completed filming in Cape Town in March.
The drama centres around the story of an 18 year old girl, ‘Molly Dawes’, played by Lacey Turner, who decides to join the British Army. The series is set against the backdrop of the British Army’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Northlands Primary School pupil played the part of Bashira, an Afghan, and also the daughter of a Taliban member.
“I’ve done modelling and I’ve been involved in school productions but nothing on this level. My mom’s friend told us about a part where they were looking for a young girl with olive skin and green eyes. I was really nervous in the audition and I didn’t think I’d got the part.
“But about two weeks later I got a call back saying the role of Bashira was mine. I was shocked but really excited,” she said.
In the series, Bashira has never known a time without soldiers in her homeland and the main protagonist, Molly, desperately wishes to help her.
As filming got underway, Rebecca had to learn some Pashtun words (one of the local dialects in Afghanistan) and change her accent.
“That was a challenge. This was all new to me and I was a bit shy, but I had to speak broken, stuttering English,” she said.
Rebecca added the best part of the series was meeting the English actors.
“I enjoyed meeting all the actors from Britain. They were really cool and made me feel comfortable in front of the cameras. It was just a fantastic series to be part of and I’d love to pursue an acting career,” she said.
