Chiedza Mhende

"When I read the brief initially I remember feeling and I think this is something that happens when you finally align with your purpose and your calling."

"I don’t ever have to take off my top (to confirm my gender) because people stare at my breasts anyway. All the time. It has really empowered me and my body because I often have to say to people ‘you know you’re staring right?’."

"It's such a deliciously groundbreaking character that has heightened my level of appreciation for performance. I find it very honourable and moving that members of the LGBTI community come to me and tell me that this story is being told so truthfully"

"When people come to me and tell me that I feel proud to have done my job the correct way and raise awareness"

"Yes, I'm a method actor. I take my work very serious, I go very deep. Physically, what I do when I play the boy character is that I walk into my dressing room and my chest is strapped."

"We take clothes for granted. What I started to feel when wearing Wandi's clothes – the girl clothes – the soft fabric of dresses and feminine underwear made me automatically click into myself. But I had to remember that I'm still this character"

"The biggest misconception about me is definitely that I'm a man. I'll state that I'm proudly a heterosexual woman"

"I'm a straight woman who has now played a transsexual character, and was able to fool you as possibly a heterosexual man. Don't ever let your sexuality stop you from being whatever you want to be, whether is in storytelling or real-life"

"It is obviously unbelievable, completely surreal but also absolutely humbling. I can’t believe that I am so lucky, but also I sit in total gratitude for sitting, arriving and being at a place that proves that all the work, all the dedication, and all of the persistence has paid off"

"One of the first things I thought of was how exciting it was to have an African story that follows a lead female action hero when for a long time, my go to for an action reference was Lara Croft–Angelina Jolie. I just always pictured Angelina Jolie, I never pictured an action hero with an afro. I actually coined the term, ‘Aflo’ because she walks with it like a halo. It’s so powerful she is our African angel superhero"

"You also get to see we are represented in our clothing, our hairstyles, different images, different ideas of what it means to not only be beautiful but what it means to be a star within your own right. ‘Do I wear my weave, am I black enough, do I wear my fro, am I bold enough and do I wear my braids, what does that mean? What do I think of myself’ and so all of those things to be seen and celebrated by this beautiful, talented people was one of the most honourable and glorious things for me to experience and be a part of"