Sindi Dlathu Biography

Sindi Dlathu was born on January 4, 1974 as Sindiswa Dlathu in Meadowlands, Soweto, Johannesburg (JHB) in the Gauteng province of South Africa. She is a South African actress and a singer. she entered a competition where she mimed an Aretha Franklin cover of The Beatles song “Let It Be” and won at age 11. When Sindi Dlathu was 12 years old she entered a talent competition, Shell Road to Fame, and reached the finals but failed to win. She received mentorship from a member of the famed South African Mbhaqanga band, Mahotella Queens.

It has been reported that it was this member of who took her to the auditions for Mbongeni Ngema’s play, Sarafina!, which saw her cast as the understudy for the title character and went to perform in the United States of America (USA). At 14 she was cast as the lead role’s understudy in the stage version of Sarafina!, playing to packed houses. In the screen version, she worked alongside Whoopi Goldberg and was commissioned as an assistant choreographer to Michael Peters. In 1988 with the second cast led by Seipati Sothoane whom Sindi understudied. When the play went on tour, she stayed behind and did Township fever in 1989-1990 touring the US with the play for a year. Five (including Sindi) of the cast were handpicked at a jazz festival in Montreal, Canada Randy Crawford was one of the performers she was so impressed she asked them to stay behind and perform with her. She has also sung backing vocals with Billy Ocean. She was in the FNB Vita Award winning Game in 2003 for Best Actress