Actor Pakamisa Zwedala might effortlessly find himself playing a ruthless or dangerous man on TV but in real life he is a softy, a sucker for love who lives a simple life. Although most of the roles he has taken were of villains he wants his fans to know that he is not a bad guy at all.
NOTHING LIKE HIS CHARACTER
“I am really far from that role. I am not bad at all,” the soft spoken Pakamisa explains. Born in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, he left the country when he was six-years-old to go live with his mother in America. After some years, he moved to Portugal with his mother who has served as an ambassador to South Africa in several countries. “I am really far from that role. I am not bad at all,” the soft spoken Pakamisa explains. Although he has experienced travelling and living in other countries, home has always had a special place in his heart. His dad died when he was nine-years-old and this robbed him off an opportunity to get to know him.
HONOURING HIS LATE FATHER
“I love my culture and as a way to honour my dad, it was important for me to go ‘entabeni’ (initiation school) when I was 16,” he says. It was a wish fulfilled before going on complete his high school education in Portugal. The initiation reminded him to also put more effort into speaking isiXhosa as fluently as he did Portuguese. Today, he is at ease knowing he can speak it.
ON LOVE
He tells Move! that he is such a softy and a sucker for love that at some point in his life, he moved across the world to be with the woman he had fallen for. He had come back home to study acting at the University of Cape Town when he met a woman who swept him of his feet. “She was about to move to Hong Kong, Shanghai and I decided to leave with her,” he says. The relationship ended after two years but there aren’t any regrets from the actor who is always open experiencing life as it comes.
GREAT START TO HIS CAREER
In 2014, he decided to come back to Mzansi and in no time, his acting career blew up. He has been on Isithembiso, Isibaya, Isikizi and other drama series. Other actors and actresses struggle to make an immediate impression in the industry but that was not the case for him. “My presence is strong. You can’t miss me when I am in a room and I always give my best with every role I play,” he says. He has no plans to move anywhere in the world, he has found love right here at home and looks forward to embracing this chapter of his life. Red Room, a film he stars in with media personality Khanyi Mbau is his recent work that he says he is super proud of.
