Wanda Zuma talks about his childhood- “I tried so hard to fit in.”

Wanda Zuma or Wanda Blaq Sir Zuma is a South African actor, poet and musician from Kwa-Zulu Natal. He calls himself a “perfoming artist” because he loves to perform. Whether it be poetry, music or acting, whatever he explores and finds himself good at.

He’s an explorer so to say. Zuma was born in 1991 and is currently 31 years old as of 2022. Zuma is most popular for his role on House of Zwide as Nkosi Zwide. However, he has also played Mthunzi on Imbewu The Seed.

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Wanda Zuma on his upbringing

Zuma was raised by both his parents, however, he spent most his childhood with his father’s boss. His father worked for a Caucasian man in the sub-urbs and the man had no family. So, as a result he offered for Wanda’s family to come stay with him. The unnamed man chose to live on the first floor while Wanda and his family lived on the second one. He attended Grosvenor High School for boys (we believe it was for boys because he said he attended Grosvenor). The School was in Bluff which is a few kilometers from his home township in Umlazi.

He would take Wanda to the library every single day and made sure Wanda read books. So, Wanda was pretty much some form of a nerd to be honest. However, he also liked to play and would make sure to keep a balance. Wanda grew up in a duality type of etiquette. Meaning, he grew up in both the suburban life and township life. And would have to learn to adapt to the township etiquette when in the township. As well as adapting to the suburban one when in the burbs.

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Wanda says he felt “Too White” when he’s at Umlazi

Zuma said that he felt “Too white” when he was visiting Umlazi and “Too Black” when in the suburbs. However, he was very good at adapting and would wear the township character well when in Umlazi. This he says was one of the progressive cues to his self discovery as an actor. Zuma attributes most of his passion for acting to reading drama books in class. In fact, he would enjoy dramatizing such moments because of how fun it was for him.

However, it was only after matric that Zuma studied drama. He removed a very important subject in his stream so that he increased his chances of doing what he loved. Even though his parents tried to choose for him. He persisted and did what he loved in the end and it paid off. However it wasn’t all smooth sailing as he had to pick some minor roles initially but in restrospect things went well. And now you see him playing Nkosi on House of Zwide.

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