Known as Nhlamulo or the Kasi Shakespeare from e.tv’s Scandal. Matthews Rantsoma was born and bred in Tembisa. He is currently 26 years. He speaks 4 languages, Setswana, Sotho, Pedi and Zulu. Matthews is known for his major role on scandal as Nhlamulo a kasi forex trader who is kind and caring, he goes by the nickname kasi Shakespeare on the show. However, Matthews came a long way to be where he is now.
Matthews’ Life, career and accolades.
Matthews Rantsoma
∆Matthews is mostly known for his theatre acting and production. He has made theatrical plays from Ngale Kwendu(2018) to Center of the less good idea season 7(2020). Rantsoma has performed and produced theatrical plays since he was in high school. He started theatrical acting in Grade 10 but only started going big later on in his life. Matthews is a very passionate actor, very creative and was the Naledi Award Winner of 2019.
Rantsoma has also appeared on Mzansi Magic’s Gomora and Tvc KFC(2019). In a discussion with IOL Matthews talks about his role on Scandal and the idea around the forex trading industry. He talked about how the industry is highly misunderstood and how that may cloud us from seeing it for its true potential whether good or bad.
Rantsoma discusses his role of Nhlamulo on Scandal
Nomvelo Makhanya and Matthews Rantsoma
∆Matthews also discussed the role of Nhlamulo and the type of person he is, he said that Nhlamulo was a kind and caring Kasi forex trader who knows Kasi like the Palm of his hand. To top that, Matthews shed some light on how he prepared for his role. It took him a lot of research on the Kasi language and its origins to fully blend into the role. However, he was able to get help from his theatre team, directors, teachers and writers. Thus was able to get a good grasp of it. He got help from the likes of Jefferson Tshabalala and Themba Mkhoma His fluency as a result of the research earned him a lot of acknowledgements and love across social media..
In an interview with Kabelo Sir Gift from SirGift Media Productions, he expressed his views of success and how Chris Hanni changed his view of success from a “selfish” definition to a more “inclusive” definition. In his own words he said: “success is when everyone else around is successful”. The rising star perfomed a play called Hanni the Legacy of which he had to research quite a lot about Chris Hanni for the play. He worked closely with Leila Henriques on so many projects and has also worked with Linda Tshabalala and Jefferson Tshabalala.
Matthews talks about conflicts between passion and duty
∆Matthews talked about the conflict between passion and benefit and to take care of yourself in the industry. He argued that even if we are passionate but we must not work for free. He said that the new generation must be bold enough to ask the question of “how much am I getting for this?”. As he says, most youngsters are selling themselves short and not getting paid for their art and talent.[3]
Matthew says he will never play homosexual
∆Matthews has a few boundaries to his acting ethics. He expressed in a interview with SirGift that he can never play the role of a homosexual but he made it clear that it is not because of homophobia or hostility. It was purely because of the emotional complexities associated with it :
“Because of the emotional baggage that it comes with,.. I would never be able to play homosexual…. and purely because of the emotional baggage it comes with. Because you must understand, every character comes with its own thought processes and I’m very technical about that, I want to understand what the character is thinking. So I’m afraid that once I’m in I might not get out…” -Matthews Rantsoma in an interview with SirGift
It seems his reason for not wanting to partake in that kind of a role is because of his psyche. As he puts it the thought processes and complexities he built around that.
Rantsoma’s opinion on local music
Rantsoma embraces local music like Kwaito and believes that Kwaito Stars are not being given the accolades and celebration they deserve for their work. He said that he would watch videos on YouTube daily to understand local music and their work. He is a rising star and a creative actor and versatile in how he approaches the industry. Matthews is definitely going far and will make huge changes in the industry.[3]