Thando Thabethe (born 18 June 1990) is a South African

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

, and Radio DJ who was the presenter for the television show ''Thando Bares All'' on channel TLC and current drive time host on 947. She is

Nivea Nivea (, stylized as NIVEA) is a German personal care brand that specializes in skin and body care. It is owned by the Hamburg-based company Beiersdorf Global AG. The company was founded on 28 March 1882, by Paul Carl Beiersdorf. In 1890, it w ...

's first brand ambassador in Africa. In 2019, Thando was named one of ''Forbes'' Africa's 30 Under 30. She is also the host of 947 Drive With Thando.

Early life and education

Thabethe was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

. She attended Mondeor High School. In 2018, she was invited by the school she graduated from to give a speech to the grade 12 pupils ahead of their final matric exams. After completing her secondary school education, Thando proceeded to study at the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the Te ...

, where she graduated with a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

(BCom.) Accounting degree in 2011. Thabethe lived with her mother alone for most of her teenage years as her father had passed away when she was 13 years old. Thabethe took part in theatre productions during her teenage years before getting her first TV role when she was 14 years old. She also took part in theatre productions at UJ Arts Centre whilst in the university and worked at

UJFM UJFM 95.4 is a Community Radio Station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the ra ...

, a community radio station based at the

, starting as news reader and later as a radio DJ.

Career

2008–2013: Early life

Thabethe started her radio career in 2008 at

before moving to popular youth radio station

YFM YFM (99.2 FM) is a "Youth" radio station in Johannesburg, South Africa. Established in 1997, the station is formatted to mostly play urban music genres such as Kwaito, Hip Hop, and R&B along with a minority of its airtime being dedicated to ...

in 2011 whilst she was in her final year of studies. At the same time she played the lead role of Thando Nkosi in the sitcom ''My Perfect Family'', which went on to air for 3 seasons. She later joined

5FM 5FM is a South African FM radio station that follows a Top 40 music format and is owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), South Africa's public broadcaster. SABC announced the appointment of Mr. JD Mostert as Business Mana ...

in 2013 on ''The Roger Goode Show.'' Other prominent work include, ''Club 808'', ''Intersexions'', ''Ngempela'', ''Kowethu'', ''1s and 2s'', and ''Single Guys.''

2014–2017: ''Generations: The Legacy, NIVEA, The Thabooty Drive''

She played the role of Nolwazi Buzo on '' Generations:The Legacy'', a South African

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

, from 2014 to 2017. In 2014, Thabethe was appointed as a

brand ambassador, making her the first African brand ambassador is for the German body-care brand. After joining 5FM, in 2016 she hosted her own show on weekdays, ''The Thando Thabooty Show,'' then ''The Thabooty Drive'' in 2017. In 2016 she starred in her first ever

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

''Mrs Right Guy'' alongside Dineo Moeketsi,

Thapelo Mokoena Thapelo Mokoena is a South African actor, television producer and presenter. He is best known for his role on UKs Bulletproof S3 as William, Trackers the series and presenting the first season of the South African version of the reality competit ...

and Lehasa Moloi. In 2016, she hosted the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Music Awards Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

, alongside

Somizi Mhlongo Somizi Buyani Mhlongo (born 23 December 1972) is a South African media personality, television presenter, actor and choreographer. In 1992, he appeared on the musical and political film, '' Sarafina!'' which gained him prominence. Mhlongo becam ...

and in 2017 she hosted the

South African Film and Television Awards South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

2018–2020: ''Housekeepers'', exit from 5FM

Thabethe started her television talk show ''Thando Bares All'', on

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

with the first episode being aired on 2 June 2018. In 2018, she later starred in the thriller, drama series ''Housekeepers'' as Linda Ndlovu. She maintained her role in the season 2 of the series in 2019. In 2019, she starred in the lead role of Zinhle Malinga in the

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

hit ''Love Lives Here''. In 2019, she was nominated for Best TV Host and Best Talk Show for ''Thando Bares All'', which aired on TLC, she was subsequently awarded Best Talk Show. After working at 5FM for five years, Thabethe resigned in March 2020. She hosted her final ''Thabooty'' show on the station on 5 March 2020. She later shared her reasons for quitting on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

on 7 April 2020.

2021-present: 947

Following the exit of DJ Fresh from 947, Thabete took over the drive time slot at 3pm on March 23, 2021. In May 12, 2022 she was announced as the judge of

Miss South Africa 2022 Miss South Africa 2022, the 64th edition of the Miss South Africa pageant was held on Saturday, August 13, 2022, at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria. Incumbent winner, Lalela Mswane of KwaZulu-Natal crowned Ndavi Nokeri of Limpopo as her successor. ...

Personal life

Thando's father died when she was in grade 8 at the age of 13. She also lost her brother Sibu Thabethe, who was shot dead in an armed robbery in 2015.

Awards

Filmography

Film roles

Television

External links

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thabethe, Thando Living people 1990 births Actresses from Johannesburg South African actresses South African television presenters South African women television presenters South African radio presenters South African women radio presenters