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VETERAN actress, Shaleen Surtie-Richards has died at the age of 66.
The cause of her death has not been divulged yet.
The star featured in local soapies such as Generations, 7de Laan and Egoli, Place of Gold.
She also gave her fans Fiela’s se kind, in 1988. Her family will issue a statement to media later today.
Growing up during the apartheid era in Upington in the Cape Province, Surtie-Richards has maintained that her background was not a disadvantaged one.
Her love for the arts started at a very young age. After a music school refused to admit her because of her colour, her father bought her a piano. She also enrolled in ballet school and attended tennis lessons.
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Before launching her professional acting career in 1984, Surtie-Richards qualified as a pre-school teacher.
She also took on many roles in several amateur stage productions between 1974 and 1981 and was also active in productions of the South African Department of Education’s Theatre-in-Education from 1982 to 1984.
During her career, Surtie-Richards has won more than 40 awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Royalty Soapie Wards, for her 30-year contribution to her television roles and the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 Naledi Awards Theatre.
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