SHE-RO: Kim Engelbecht cements herself as an international acting sensation

Kim Engelbecht on Raised by Wolves. File image.

Kim Engelbecht on Raised by Wolves. File image.

Published Aug 25, 2022

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Johannesburg - In all aspects of society, there are phenomenal women who are making a difference in the lives of those around them while also striving to new heights. This Women’s Month, The Saturday Star will be profiling some of the nation’s leading ladies.

Renowned actress Kim Engelbrecht is continuing to make waves in both the local and international entertainment scene. The beauty from Belhar, Cape Town is a household name in South Africa since she made her debut on local youth television programme ‘Take5’ in the 1990s. The 42-year-old then got her first big break at the age of 12 when she landed the lead role of Sara in an Italian production, Sarahsara, in which she played the role of a 12-year-old girl of Sudanese descent who swims from the Isle of Capri to Napoli in Italy.

Engelbrecht is also acclaimed for her role as Lolly de Klerk on beloved South African soapie Isidingo. Since then, the actress has starred in several South African productions including local crime thriller Reyka, a crime thriller series set in the scenic backdrop of KwaZulu-Natal's sugar cane fields.

Kim Engelbecht on Reyka. File image.

She is also making her mark on the international TV scene with her role on hit American sci-fi drama series Raised by Wolves, which is set on another planet in a dystopian future. Engelbrecht joined the cast of "Raised by Wolves" as Decima, a quantum gravity engineer who is also trying to rekindle a relationship with an android version of her dead daughter, Vrille.

She told The Saturday Star in March that she was thrilled to shoot the hit show in her hometown. “My home tends to be project-based, so with The Flash, it was Canada, and I’m often in and out of the States. So it was cool to be in Cape Town for this,” Engelbrecht told the Saturday Star.

“Cape Town does have some element of being otherworldly, so it 100% lends itself to this genre: the landscape itself, the mountain, the ocean, the green vs the blue, and the red sky. The beauty is so magnificent that it doesn’t seem real,” says Engelbrecht.

“The cast and crew all really loved Cape Town. We had a Zoom call and that was what everyone was raving about,” Engelbrecht added.

Some of her other international roles include US sci-fi series Dominion, British cop show Bulletproof and American superhero series, The Flash.