Sonia Mbele is a South African actress,[1][2] model,[3] tv producer and entrepreneur. She produced the first ever Real Housewives franchise in Africa,[4] and is the executive producer for Real Housewives of Johannesburg.[5]
Early life
Sonia Mbele was born in December 1976 in Natalspruit, South Africa.[6]
Career
Mbele began her career in 1998 as a lead act in an SABC 2 drama production that was called Phamokate and in 1999 she was awarded at the FNB Vita Award for Most Promising New Actress. In 2003, Mbele was cast in SABC 1 soap series Generations through which she rose to prominence in South Africa, she played her role as Ntombi Khumalo up to 2011.[7] In 2009, Mbele won the Golden Horn Award for Best Actress in a TV Soap at the South African Film and Television Awards.[8]
Mbele became the first black celebrity to be named face of Dark & Lovely, Lux, and Sun-Silk in South Africa.[9][10]
In 2018, Mbele brought the first The Real Housewives franchise to Africa which premiered in South Africa as Real Housewives of Johannesburg through her company Sonia Mbele Films,[5] then in 2021, she created another reality tv series called Pastor’s Wives for HONEY TV.[11]