Larona Moagi on acting, fame and school

Best known for her role as Itumeleng Mokeona on The River, Larona Moagi is a talented actress and Law student who is fast becoming popular. ZAlebs sat down with the starlet to catch up about her work and the industry.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself?
I was born and raised in Protea North, I’m currently studying law at Wits, I will be done in the next two years.  Because I am law student, people always wonder how acting happened. When I started varsity, my intentions were to go into acting, I was planning on studying drama at Wits, I actually signed up for drama at but only did it for a week because it wasn’t as fulfilling as I thought it would be.

I was basically caught in two worlds; I felt I needed to choose between passion and talent or doing something that I've always wanted to do, which was law. I felt like I could've done both but eventually ended up doing law. I decided acting was something I was going to push on the side. I told myself I would continue with auditions and try to get my name out there as much as I can and in 2017 luck was on my side. 

 

Late 2017, I heard about auditions for a show and thought, let's give this a try. And around that time, I had a feeling that just wouldn't go away. I knew I wanted to get into the acting world so when I heard about the auditions, I thought, perfect timing. I went for auditions before I knew it, I got a call-back, and I thought, “well this is nice,” it was the second call-back that sealed the deal. And even after they told me that I got the role, I was still like “well this is nice but what does it mean?” They explained the story and it was surreal for me. I had to pinch myself a couple of times to drill it in my head that this is actually really happening. Luck was on my side, I took a risk and it paid off. 

 

I do have some sort of training, I used to do this in high school (laughs). I never get the imposter syndrome, I feel like I’m holding my craft down. There are moments where I feel like tapping into heavy emotions gets a bit hard for me. The River deals with a lot of emotions, my character goes through a lot, so trying to tap into the emotions can be problematic now and again but for the most part, I believe I am holding it down. 

 

I always make time, I shoot during the week but on weekends, sacrifices have to be made. I make sure that I catch up and in the loop and updated with what’s happening in my classes. 

 

My aspirations were to always go to media and entertainment law so I’ll see how it goes, but I think should I ever decide to go behind the scenes in the acting industry, my law degree with definitely come in handy. I have the tools to enable me to do that. If I do ever go back to the law world, it will be tied to what I’m doing now. 

I have to say that I have been quite fortunate that I haven’t experienced problems in the industry. I’m very kept to myself, I stay true to myself so I haven’t gotten caught up in the hype. I constantly remind myself what I’m here for and how I got in the industry helps. I challenge myself not to get lost. It’s easy and quick to get hype, whatever industry you’re in, and people tend to lose themselves. Keeping and staying true to myself has helped with the industry challenges. 

 

I think I’m handling fame quite well (giggles). I do get noticed every now and again which makes me happy. Knowing that people appreciate what I give to them. It’s a nice feeling. I don't have any stories about fame, YET. 

 

Believe in yourself, pray and remember that dreams do come true.

Main image credit: Instagram/@larona_moagi_