SA's got talent; LA takeover by another Saffa

The Citizen

3 days ago

Looking back, she said she would thank the girl from White River who first dared to dream.
It's a show business takeover that's happening at a pace.
A growing number of South Africans are making names for themselves, and for Mzansi's incredible wealth of talent, abroad.
What was initially a trickle with stars like Arnold Vosloo and Charlize Theron making it big, the legion of local talent making waves globally is gaining momentum.
And somewhere between White River, Flappers Comedy Club and a fantasy theatre production in Los Angeles, 24-year-old Georgia Neves is making her own place in Lala Land.
.Neves is a writer, actor, stand-up comic and improviser based in Los Angeles these days.
She trained at the New York Film Academy.
'The school is incredible. I was lucky to have had some amazing professors,' she said. 'One of them always used to say, 'Be bad. Do it the wrong way.' That advice stuck with me. It reminded me that I don't have to wait to get it perfect. I just have to start.'
'Be Bad. Do it the wrong way.'
It was a phrase that gave her the courage to write, produce and star in her debut short film Searching for Grace.
It won the Special Jury Award for Best International Short Film at the Thilsri International Film Festival and was a finalist at the New York International Film Awards.
'The truth is, I wrote it when I had no inspiration. I felt stuck, and I let that show up in the character too. Grace is stuck. But she transforms. The theme became, 'the best version of yourself lies on the other side of your greatest fears.' That still resonates with me.'
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She was born in Mpumalanga and grew up between White River, Walmer in Gqeberha, and Pretoria East.
Her upbringing, she said, was shaped by the rhythms and quirks of small-town life and the cultural mix of different provinces.
It gave her a strong sense of identity and adaptability, a recurring theme in her life and work.
While she always knew she wanted to act, it was the contrasts between these environments and the people she encountered that sharpened her sensitivity to character and story.
'I can't point to one place that defined me,' she said, 'but all of them live in me, and they come out in the work.'
Not defined by places
Neves is now balancing screen acting, live performance and script development, performing stand-up at the much-loved LA hotspots like Flappers Comedy Club, and co-founded an improv and sketch collective called Sketch Marks.
She's also preparing for a stint at The Groundlings, the comedy club institution that helped launch the careers of Will Ferrell, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph and others.
Neves trained under Suzanne Kent, one of the original Groundlings, and still anchors her performances based on a rule of thumb that improv should be about truth, not performance.
'Suzanne always says, 'Don't try to be funny. Just live in the truth of the moment, and the funny will come naturally. Or it won't. And that's fine too.''
Honesty in performance is also what keeps her grounded on stage, she said.
'There are definitely moments before a show where I second-guess myself, but the reward is always the same: I did that. I showed up. That's everything.'
'Everything moves quickly'
Between upcoming roles in a feature film called Natasha Mail Order Bride: Escape to America – The Movie and a fantasy stage production titled Sword Play: The Bladesmen of Pyrus Pri, and also a short film that's in post-production for next year's festival circuit, Neves is keeping up with the speed of LA's creative hustle.
'It's fast. Everything moves quickly. You always have to be ready. That's been the biggest adjustment.'
She misses home, especially the people.
'The thing that hit me the most was the warmth. South Africans have this natural warmth. People in LA are warm too, but just in a different way. I've adapted.'
Adaptation is a theme that runs through everything she does.
'Improv taught me that mistakes aren't mistakes. They're just part of the process. You learn to trust your instincts, to move, to make strong choices.'
Looking back, she said she would thank the girl from White River who first dared to dream.
'For not giving up. For keeping that voice alive that says, this is what I want, and I'm going to get it.'
She is not chasing fame. She is chasing mastery of her craft.
'I want to get so good at what I do that when people watch me, they feel something. Real impact. Even if it's small. I'm not done here. I'm only just getting started.'
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