He is as charismatic as they come. His voice alone demands to be listened to and his aura demands respect. He was born and raised in the beautiful lushes KwaZulu-Natal and later relocated to the city of gold to pursue his acting career. He is Muzi Mthabela.
He shares two scriptures, Mathew 16:26 and 1 Corinthians 2:9, “these two verses put things in a proper perspective for me that as I pursue my career I should, one, never sell my soul and, two, no glory of this world can be equal to anything that God has instore for those who love Him”. He proudly adds that the Word of God has been his sustenance. He shares that choosing the right roles to play is crucial to him because his work should glorify God. He adds that there is a thin line between acting and reality which forces actors to be in a spiritual realm they had not expected, and this has resulted in many actors being traditional healers. A lot of actors become their characters because of that thin line, they cross it without intending too. “It is very important to me to ask the Holy Spirit to guide me. My cousin used to say, ‘when you wake up in the morning, ask the Holy Spirit to cover you so that all steps you take are guided by Him’, therefore it is very important for me to pray especially when I get to work.
We all come from different alters that we bow to and these alters do not get along, so I invite God to my decision making so that my work glorifies Him”, he says. He adds that some roles will be against his faith and salvation but because those roles are what is happening in the world at large he takes them to educate people, “it is my duty between me and Jehovah to ask if the role is glorifying the kingdom of darkness or if I should take it to educate people”. He adds that the hard part of choosing roles is when you have already chosen a role and the storyline changes, because then you have to decide again if you want to continue or not.
He shares that people’s criticisms do not get to him because what is important to him is that at the end of the day, he goes back to God to pray and get with God’s mandate. “It is important that when fame comes it glorifies God therefore, I have decided to uplift the name of God with the work that I do”.
He shares a short message to aspiring actors: “You must be filled with the Word of God to begin with. When you enter this industry you must be rooted so that you know how to guide yourself. You will get to industry parties and you will meet people that you admire doing ungodly things and their behavior is shameful to say the least, drinking like fish, smoking or doing drugs. Seeing the people you admire will feel supernatural so if you are not rooted you will be swept by what they do. This is the right time to sow the seed in your heart, hide the Word of God in your heart. Psalm 119 speaks of the law of God, the Word of God, the principles of God. I would paraphrase verse 11, it says, “help me hide your word in me so that all I do comes from a place your word that is in my heart” .
Fame can be intoxicating and can disturb you and lead you off the right path if you are not rooted. So, be rooted in the Word of God then pursue your career. Ask God to guide you because sometimes you will pursue what you like and not what God had intended for you, it might be what your flesh likes but not what the Spirit wants you to do. Check with God if acting is what you are called for because you could be called into the entertainment industry as a writer or producer to produce kingdom movies”.
He plans to go into business soon so keep a look out. To keep up with him he is @muzimthabela on Instagram, @muzi_mthabela on Twitter and MuziMthabela on Facebbok