Heading for stardom

Charlize Theron is not the only South African star coming soon to a cinema near you. Former Capetonian Stelio Savante has landed five movie roles and two television series just this year.

His latest is the movie Windsor. The cast was announced this week and includes Nick Krause, from the George Clooney hit The Descendants, and Barry Corbin, Ed in the TV series Anger Management.

Savante, who starred with Uma Thurman in My Super Ex-Girlfriend , said the script for Windsor is brave. Written by Porter Farrell, it centres around a teenager who stands up to a corporate giant.

"High stakes issues are brought onto a small family by government and corporate interference. I think that more of these stories need to be told to remind the US public that liberty truly means less government and more control over our own lives," the 44-year-old actor said.

"The small guy keeps getting shafted. I play a corporate lawyer who attempts to bring down an entire community on behalf of a corporate giant."

Though Savante will probably not move back to South Africa, he does hang out with and help other South Africans in film, including actor Christel Smith.

But Los Angeles and New York are the places he calls home.

In fact, he is so at home in the US that he no longer needs to train to camouflage his accent.

"Gosh no, I've been living here for 25 years. I now speak with an American accent, and often play New Yorkers, All-Americans and Southern roles."