Tendaiishe Chitima (born ) is a

Zimbabwean Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Moza ...

actress.

Biography

Chitima described herself as shy growing up in Zimbabwe, and did not consider acting as a career. She attended the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

, studying media and journalism. Chitima took a drama course and loved it, deciding to become a professional actress. She did not tell her parents about her plan until after she graduated. Chitima later earned a master's degree in business. During and after her studies, she acted in short films, including ''Jayson's Hope'' (2013), which was a Top 10 finalist for the

Afrinolly Afrinolly is a mobile application (App) which enables African entertainment enthusiasts to watch African movies, movie trailers, short films and music videos that have been made public by content owners or their legal representative most especiall ...

Short Film Competition. At the beginning of her career, Chitima's roles were on South African television where she played maids and victims of human trafficking, exposing the plight of some migrant women. In 2016, she played Blessing in the second season of the TV series ''Mutual Friends''. She portrayed Adelaide, an orphan involved in human trafficking, in the TV series ''

Isidingo ''Isidingo'' is a South African soap opera, with dialogue mostly in English and isiXhosa. The series premiered on SABC 3 in July 1998 and was broadcast evenings on SABC 3 from Monday to Friday at 19:00. Until 2001 it was titled ''Isidingo: The ...

'' in 2016. In 2017, Chitima was cast as Anesu, a single mother who did not attend university, in the romantic comedy ''

Cook Off ''Cook Off'' is a 2017 Zimbabwean romantic comedy film written and directed by Tomas Brickhill. Set in contemporary middle class society of Harare, the film stars Tendaiishe Chitima, Fungai Majaya and Tehn Diamond. Production of the film was ...

''. Her character has a passion for cooking, which is realized when her son and grandmother sign her up for a television cooking contest. The film was made for a budget of about $8000, and she chose the role because she liked the social dynamics of the script. It was her first feature film and became a hit on Netflix, with Chitima describing it as a love letter to Zimbabwe. She received the Best Actress award at the Zimbabwe International Film Festival, and ''Cook Off'' was named best film. In 2018, she starred in the play ''Bloom Flame Bloom''.

Partial filmography

*2013: ''Jayson’s Hope'' (short film) *2014: ''Evelyn and Tapiwa'' (short film) *2016: ''Mutual Friends'' (TV series, as Blessing) *2016: ''Isidingo'' (TV series, as Adelaide) *2017: ''

'' (as Anesu) *2018: ''Guilt'' (TV series, as Consolation Dube) *2019: ''Into Infinity'' (short film, as Angela Tariro) *2020: '' Gonarezhou: The Movie'' (as Thulo)

References

External links

Tendaiishe Chitima
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitima, Tendaiishe Living people 21st-century Zimbabwean actresses Zimbabwean film actresses Zimbabwean television actresses Zimbabwean stage actresses University of Cape Town alumni Year of birth missing (living people)