Matriach Connie Chiume Landed Biggest Career Role at 65 in Black Panther

Connie Chiume is a South African actress best known for her starring role as Mamokete Khuse, an upstanding and moral woman who is everyone’s mother, in the e.tv soapie Rhythm City, from 2007-2016.

Connie has acted in numerous feature films as well, including The Air Up There (1994), Chikin Biznis (1998), I Dreamed of Africa (2000) and Country of My Skull (2004).
In theatre, she played the lead role in the acclaimed stage play You Strike The Woman, You Strike The Rock, in 2006. She also performed in Ipi Ntombi (which toured South Africa, Monte Carlo, USA and New Zealand), Porgy & Bess, and Little Shop of Horrors.
Her previous jobs, prior to her acting/dancing and singing career, included nursing, teaching and waitressing. Her special skills include event management.
In 2014 she was one of the celebrity contestants on the first season of the e.tv game show I Love South Africa.
In April 2016 she announced she was retiring the role of Mamokete in the e.tv soapie Rhythm City, which she had played since the show’s first episode on 9 July, 2007. She said she would still focus on acting, but also wanted to indulge her longtime passion for farming. Her last appearance on the show was on Wednesday 20 April, 2016.
She was previously best known for her role as Stella Moloi in the SABC1 drama series Zone 14, from 2005-2010, for which she won the Golden Horn award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama at the third South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs), in 2009.h the won the Avanti award for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2000), the SABC1 sitcom Mazinyo Dot Q and the SABC2 drama series 90 Plein Street.
She has also appeared in Home Affairs, Khululeka (Seasons 1-3), Yizo Yizo 3, Soul City and Generations, among others. She has also acted in numerous commercials, documentaries and educationals.A

t a time when many think of retiring, the veteran actress landed a role of a lifetime in the movie Black Panther at age 65 playing the role of a mining tribal elder alongside fellow South African actors John and Atandwa Kani.

The superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name is spearheaded by an all-star Hollywood cast of Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B Jordan, Angela Bassett and Forest Whitaker.
Although the former Rhythm City matriarch has starred in other international films such as In My Country with Samuel L Jackson and I Dreamed of Africa with Kim Basinger, she regards Black Panther as her biggest role to date. “People usually say in God’s time things will happen. Last year I was celebrating 40 years in the entertainment industry and I was celebrating it by doing workshops across the country,” Chiume recalled.
“So I got this role in my 40th year in the industry and it is the biggest role I have ever done in my entire career. I’m grateful. It’s never too late. It’s the beginning of me opening a new door.
Special effects is really a rare skill done by the best in the film industry
After a worldwide search in October 2016, Chuime landed the role. She filmed her scenes between January and March last year in Atlanta, Georgia, in the US.
“I shared my scenes with all the big stars in the film. In particular, I want to credit my fellow South Africans – Bra John and Atandwa – it was such a beautiful thing and we are proud to be part of the production,” she gushed.
“The fact that they auditioned everywhere in the world and I happened to be the one that they preferred, to me that was a highlight on its own.
“Then getting there and being surrounded by all that talent, people I only read about, on their own turf that was special.”
Chiume said she was excited to attend the world premiere next month in Los Angeles. Although she had not decided on what to wear on the red carpet, she would be meeting a number of local designers tomorrow. “I will be representing the rest of Africa, so I want to wear something proudly African and elegant,” she said.
Chiume currently resides in Johannesburg. She has four children.