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13 Facts About Linda Mvusi

1.

In 1988, Mvusi made her acting debut in the film A World Apart, for which she won the Best Actress Award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first Black woman and the first South African to win the Best Actress award at Cannes.

2.

In 2004, Linda Mvusi shared an award for excellence for her architecture on the Apartheid Museum.

3.

Linda Mvusi was born in the Free State of South Africa around 1955 and brought up in Northern Rhodesia, Ghana and Kenya.

4.

Linda Mvusi trained as an architect and was practising her craft in Harare when she met Chris Menges who was trying to find locations for his film, A World Apart, near Bulawayo.

5.

Linda Mvusi was initially wary of this film as she suspected it was a film made by outsiders with foreign money for a foreign audience.

6.

Linda Mvusi felt that the millions of foreign money was preventing Africans from telling their own story.

7.

Linda Mvusi said "white film makers [are] suppressing our own growth, our own view of history [and] our own reality".

8.

Linda Mvusi reported that there were many arguments during the making of the film.

9.

Much of the tension was due to not wanting to lose the "black story", but Linda Mvusi felt the arguments were worth it as the film was true to its message.

10.

At the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, Linda Mvusi shared the Best Actress Award with her co-stars in A World Apart, becoming the first Black woman and the first South African to win the Best Actress award at Cannes.

11.

Linda Mvusi returned to her profession as an architect and practices with her own company in South Africa.

12.

Linda Mvusi has worked on the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.

13.

In 2004, Linda Mvusi was working on an urban village called Fort West in Tshwane.