Since the age of seven, he had been running around, reciting scripts from Tyler Perry movies and rapping along to whatever Prokid or Biggie song had just been released, but little did this young man from Nelson Mandela Bay know that this would one day lead to a life as actor, musician and writer in the Big Apple.
Kente Lufefe (22), who grew up in Central, Newton Park and Overbaakens, is slowly but surely climbing the arts ladder where he resides in Brooklyn, New York, after completing his diploma in acting from the New York Film Academy, as well as making the dean’s list.
He has since participated in a number of short films and was recently accepted into one of the city’s most renowned theatre showcase companies, The Arts Project NYC (TAPNYC) that creates sketch comedies, musicals and plays for “Off-Broadway”.
“I took part in a number of student films, from Risk, where I played a senior attorney accused of a shortfall of funds, to Wild, where I play a local hoodlum who just robs people for his survival. Some of the notable shorts I was a part of are still awaiting results from film festivals.
“Currently, I’m working on building my website, where all my personalised work will be published,” Lufefe explained.
He said that going to New York had always been a desire, since he was a little boy, but making it a reality became more of a vivid thought towards the end of 2017, when pressure started to build around what he would do after high school.
“I started doing research on colleges. A lot came up and I was set to make a move so my great dramatic arts teacher, one of the most renowned South African drama school teachers, Mrs Robin Williams, agreed to prep me for an upcoming play mid-2018.
“I auditioned for the PEMADS production of the musical, Rent, staged in the Little Theatre in Gqeberha. That wild, flamboyant and survival-driven display of life in the Lower East Side Manhattan, New York, along with an experienced, talented team of creatives, really helped solidify my decision to make New York my home,” Lufefe said.
“I must add that at first, I honestly had no interest in being part of this play. I didn’t understand it and tried to convince myself that I was too busy with other activities. However, it’s clear that sometimes the things you don’t want to do end up being much needed.
“After the success of the play, I took my audition pieces for the New York Film Academy to Mrs Williams and she loved them. We worked on them, I travelled to Cape Town where the auditions were being held and not too long after that, I was accepted,” he added.
Lufefe said that he never thought this would happen and that the words for what he felt at that moment still needed to be invented.
“Where I’m from, the Eastern Cape specifically, colleges abroad don’t even consider coming to grace us with their presence, but the fact that opportunities like these don’t often come is a matter of public record.
“I think the only word that can sum up the feeling of how everything came together is blessed. I felt highly and undeniably blessed.”
Although he is living his dream in New York, he still regularly gets homesick. When asked what he missed the most about his home country, he answered with a laugh: “Inyama! Proper meat, not the poison that some are fed here.”
The mention of his birthplace also makes him think of his mother. “That’s the woman who helped shape my life and saw an awakening in me while I was sleeping on myself.”
Some of the valuable life lessons he learnt abroad are to stay true to yourself, to never confuse movement with progress, to not compromise your integrity but just adjust and keep in touch with your mental and physical health.
For young, aspiring actors who would like to climb the ladder abroad, Lufefe suggested that they focus on education and travel.
“Disrespect your comfort zone and be around those who might have different opinions, languages and beliefs and once you have an idea on how to drive in that lane, expand!
“I’ve made it my mission to travel one day and I’ll advise any youth member to do the same but start small.”
