Tiisetso Thoka on TV witchcraft: It's the most rewarding role of my career

Imagine speaking several languages, being known as the life of the party and someone whose always keen to chat, and then suddenly you have to be mute for several hours a day.

That was the challenge faced by actor Tiisetso Thoka when he took on the role of herd boy Dingane on The Herd.

The star received rave reviews for his role, especially after his character was left unable to speak by a curse placed on him to keep him from spilling tea on his boss's wife. The spell also left him unable to move unless told to do so.

Speaking to TshisaLIVE, Tiisetso said the role was the most challenging but rewarding of his entire career.

"When they told me about the role, I was excited. It was a first for me because I am used to playing gangsters or city people. It was an incredible challenge. I grew up in a rural area so that helped me relate to the character but I still had to research and make the character my own."

He said he had to pull something out the top draw to be able to pull off the scenes that had Mzansi going crazy over his talent and hailing him as Oscar-worthy.

"Usually my character speaks a lot. He is a poet so he does a lot of poems but now he was bewitched. Suddenly I had to go from speaking all the time to being able to "speak" for entire scenes with just my face. Try to act the most emotional scenes of my life with no words but just a camera zoomed in on my face. It was emotionally exhausting."

Tiisetso burst onto the scene as a presenter on kid's show YoTV but said he didn't mind the "child star" tag. 

"I don't mind people recognising me for that (his YoTV gig) and I look young so it works in my favour. It is a blessing. I need to milk it and still prove myself more," he added.