WITH her captivating acting skills, it’s hard to believe that Sana Mchunu, who is popularly known as Nomarashiya on Muvhango , had no ambitions of being in the entertainment industry.
GROWING UP
Sana, who was born into a poor family in Soweto, says she regrets most of the decisions she made while growing up. She admits that she never listened to her parents and as a result, she ended up having her first child at the age of 14. “By the age of 19, I already had two children. My parents tried so hard to show me the right path, but I was young and naive," she says. After giving birth to her second child, her parents forced her to go back to school, but a few months later, she fell pregnant again. Sana says after her third child, her parents still forced her to go to school, but she refused because her younger sister was in a class ahead of her. “I was ashamed of what people would say, so I never went back to school and never got my matric."
LIFE WAS NOT EASY
She says when her parents passed away, she and her sister had no one to support them. "At that point, I already had four children. The only option was to live with the father of my youngest child. I fell pregnant again with my fifth child, but he started abusing me physically and emotionally. He told me that I would never amount to anything in life and that I had nothing to live for. I cried all the time. I left my children with him and went back home because I didn’t want them to suffer because of me. I told them that I was going to look for a job and that they must stay with their father.” Today, she is happily married with seven children.
GETTING INTO THE INDUSTRY
Sana explains to Move! that she never planned to get into the acting industry. All she wanted was to be a cleaner, but her life took a positive turn when she accompanied her friend, Winnie Khumalo, to an audition. “When we got to the audition, Winnie asked me to queue for her while she was busy with other things. When I got close to the door, one of the directors asked me to audition," says the former Isibaya actress. Sana explains that she didn’t know anything about acting, but the director insisted. “I did what they told me to do and they were impressed,” she says, adding that she got a role on eKasi: Our Stories titled, Everything Came Up and Down. “From that day, doors started opening for me.”
GRATEFUL FOR HER GIFT
Sana says she is grateful to God for her gift. "I have a successful career because of Him. I did 12 eKasi: Our Stories and the directors were happy with my work. I would like to have a platform to talk to girls who are going through the same hardships that I went through. It’s never too late to live your dreams," she concludes.
