Sandra Prinsloo

Sandra Prinsloo (born 15 September 1947), also known as Sandra Prinzlow, is a South African actress best known internationally for her role as Kate Thompson in the 1980 film '' The Gods Must Be Crazy''. Prinsloo has also appeared in numerous South African television, film, and stage productions.

Early life and career

Prinsloo has stated that she never expected to become an actress."Behind the Icon – Leading Lady: Sandra Prinsloo"
News 24. 21 December 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2015.

"I was a ballet dancer from a very early age and I remember that I occasionally ushered at the Breytenbach Theatre in Pretoria when I was in high school. That’s the first time I came into contact with professional stage acting, but I never thought I’d be an actress . . . . I think I was far too shy in those days to ever think I could be an actress. So it wasn’t like I had this great big burning passion to become an actress, not at all. I preferred an academic life, in a way. When I went to university, I thought that was going to be what I was going to do".

Prinsloo matriculated from the Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool and then completed her B.A. honours in drama at the University of Pretoria. Soon after, she became a member of the Performing Arts Council Transvaal acting company. "One night we were performing and it was as if something absolutely magical happened. It was as if a golden net was cast down. Everything was magical that evening and everybody felt it in the cast ... It was something enchanting that happens in the exchange of the energy between the audience and the actors".

Prinsloo has said that after that night, she realised that acting was her calling.

Film career

In addition to her well-known role in ''The Gods Must Be Crazy,'' Prinsloo has had major roles in '' Target of an Assassin'' (1979), '' Quest for Love'' (1988), ''Die Prins van Pretoria'' (1992), '' Soweto Green'' (1995), n Paw Paw Vir My Darling'' (2015), ''Twee Grade van Moord'' (2016).Sandra Prinsloo
Internet Movie Database (IMDB). Retrieved 31 May 2015.

Television career

Prinsloo was in the original cast of '' Egoli: Place of Gold,'' South Africa's first soap opera. For many years, she hosted her own talk show, ''RaakPraat met Sandra,'' on South Africa television. She has also conducted a series of interviews with personalities and celebrities for South African TV, ''Sandra Op 'n Drafstap.''"The Prinsloo Phenomenon"
''Tonight'' (South Africa). 18 December 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2015.

Prinsloo has acted in a number of South African television series and movies throughout her career, including ''Erfsondes'' (2012); ''Hartland'' (2011); ''Known Gods'' (2005); ''Saints, Sinners, and Settlers'' (1999); and ''Konings'' (1991) among others.

Theatre career

Prinsloo has performed in more than 100 different productions, often playing leading roles in works by South African and international dramatists.

In 1985, Prinsloo and fellow actor John Kani caused a South African audience walk-out when performing the play '' Miss Julie'' by August Strindberg."Walkout over Black-White Love Scene". ''Courier-Mail'' (Australia). 8 March 1985. Retrieved 2 September 2014 from Lexis-Nexis database. In the title role, Prinsloo played a white woman seducing a black man. The play marked the first on-stage occurrence of a black man kissing a white woman under the Apartheid regime.

The play's producer, Bobby Heaney, speculated that the walk-out was "part of a well planned campaign by conservative whites". Both Kani and Prinsloo had to be escorted into the parking lot after each performance of ''Miss Julie,'' as there was fear that the actors would be attacked by "enraged right-wingers".Smith, Janet.
Kani's King Lear moment
. ''The Star'' (Johannesburg). 13 February 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2015. Prinsloo reportedly received obscene hate mail and both received death threats.

When interviewed in 2014 for the ''21 Icons Project'', a series of short films about South Africans "who have shaped the world around them","About the Project"
21 Icons. Retrieved 6 June 2015. Prinsloo commented that ""I thought he playwould cause a stir, but I didn’t think it would cause a minor revolution. People were very small-minded and I suppose you live in a bit of a fool’s paradise when you’re an actor".

The actors later performed the play at the Edinburgh Festival. In 1986, Heaney directed a TV movie of the play for Swedish and Finnish television, which starred both Prinsloo and Kani.

Prinsloo returned to the Edinburgh Festival in 2012 with ''The Sewing Machine,'' an English-language translation of the Afrikaans-language play, ''Die Naaimasjien.'' In the 2000s, Prinsloo appeared on the South African stage in productions of ''Oskar en die Pienk Tannie; Janneman; Nag, Ma (Night Mother);'' and ''Liefde, Anna.''

In October 2015, Prinsloo portrayed South African journalist, Jani Allan in ''Jani'' at the Aardklop festival.

Awards

In 2013, Prinsloo received the ACT Lifetime Achievement Award for Theatre."Celebrating artists who touch our lives"
''Tonight'' (South Africa). 19 November 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2015. The awards are offered annually by the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) of South Africa in order to "honour arts professionals whose extraordinary careers have had a profound and lasting impact on arts, culture and heritage, and whose lifetime achievements have contributed significantly to the enrichment of cultural life in South Africa".

In 2014, Prinsloo was the recipient of a national order by the South African government, the Order of Ikhamanga in silver, for those whose outstanding work has benefited South Africa. National orders are bestowed on South Africa's Freedom Day. The orders celebrate human achievement in various fields, honouring men and women who have left definitive footprints in both the struggle for liberation and in building a better South Africa.

In 2018, Prinsloo was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naledi Theatre Awards."Complete list of winners in 2018 Naledi Theatre Awards"
''Artsvark'', 19 June 2018. The awards are offered annually by the Naledi Theatre Awards Committee.

Education

Prinsloo matriculated from the Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool. She holds the degree B.A. (Honours) from the University of Pretoria.http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/sandra-prinsloo-5555 Sandra Prinsloo Retrieved 29 December 2012

Partial filmography

* ''The Seagull (Die Seemeeu)'' (2019)
* ''Twee Grade van Moord'' (2016)
* n Paw-Paw vir My Darling'' (2015)
* ''Soweto Green'' (1995)
* ''The Prince of Pretoria'' (1993)
* ''In the Name of Blood'' (1990)
* '' Quest for Love'' (1988)
* '' Thieves of Fortune'' (1988)
* ''Jewel of the Gods'' (1989)
* ''The Outcast'' (1984)
* ''Claws'' (1982)
* '' The Gods Must Be Crazy'' (1980)
* ''Listen to My Story'' (1976)
* '' Target of an Assassin'' (1976)
* '' No Gold for a Dead Diver'' (1974) – as Sandra Prinzlow
* '' Love Nights in the Taiga'' (1967)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Prinsloo, Sandra
Opposition to apartheid in South Africa
South African film actresses
Afrikaner people
South African people of Dutch descent
University of Pretoria alumni
Living people
1947 births
South African television actresses
20th-century South African actresses
Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga