Northwold comedienne always had dreams of stardom

What do you do when you have dreams of becoming an entertainer? Make sure that all you do leads you straight to the stage of course.

One of our community’s greatest testament to this is local actress and comedienne, Shika Budhoo.

The multifacet talent has landed numerous roles both on the small and big screen. She was also part of the comedians who made audiences laugh at the Proudly Coloured Comedy: 8 Ou Pot8 Ou comedy show recently held at The Lyric Theatre.

Budhoo, a Northwold resident said when she was younger she would attend speech and drama classes and would get her mother to write out scripts that she would have her friends re-enact in front of the school.

By the time she was in high school, she made sure to canvas the school for fellow peers who were keen to study drama and through her efforts the principal gave them a teacher.

“When I got to varsity it was a dream come true being able to study and practice my craft,” said Budhoo.

At first what called out to her about the industry was the adrenaline rush she would get from performing in front of people and as she grew into storytelling she realised getting others to identify with her stories was most exciting.

“It helped me understand my world. As an actress portraying different characters helps me find out more about how I interact with the world because I am always questioning my world and it helps keep me more aware.”

Growing up she was influenced by comedians like Robin Williams and Jim Carrey who helped develop her comic timing and impersonation of accents.

“Female comedienne Whoopi Goldberg’s one-woman show off-broadway showed me how to characters can speak to a crowd as a comedy piece but also on a deeper level exposing society for all its fancies and flaws.”

She also loves local talent such as Tumi Morake, Jailoshini Naidoo and Leeanda Reddy whom she thinks are amazing comics to look up to.

What inspires her comedy is everything from her husband, son, dogs, people or even news.

“I will think something is funny, write it down and work on it until it works for me. Sometimes something comes up before during or after a show. I have random notes all over.”

Budhoo said her toughest critics are her mother and her husband who always tell her truth whether it is performance comedy or writing. “It keeps me in check and helps me get better”

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