South African actress, writer and producer, Margaretha Murray popularly known as Milan Murray was born on 30th October, 1974 and raised in Cape Province, South Africa. She is mostly well known to the for her roles in various soap operas, but she has also played and starred in feature films, and regularly does stage performances. In addition she co-anchors “Ontbytsake”, a weekly Breakfast show on kykNET, an Afrikaans channel on DStv. Milan lives in Johannesburg with her husband, Schalk van der Merwe, her son Steph and daughter Lua.
Milan studied Drama at the Pretoria Technicon, and also studied at certain studios in New York City, United States. She had her big break in 1999 when she cast a role in the South African soap opera, Isidingo: The Need in which she portrayed a rebellious teenager named Dusty da Silva from 1998 to 2001. She was then written out of the series but later made a comeback portraying the same character as a university student from 2003 to 2004. Milan also played in two small horror films, “Slash” in which she plays Karen and “Snake Island” in which she plays Carrie. She played the romantic lead “Sage” in the M-Net film “Murmur”.
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Her first large Afrikaans role was in the television drama series Song vir Katryn, where she played a crime reporter. Other Afrikaans drama roles include the soap opera Binnelanders (Frankie van Niekerk) and television drama Dit Wat Stom Is (Melanie van den Berg).
Milan is a popular face in South African movies and has played in several stage productions. She starred in her own one-man show, ‘n Pers hoed vir Mrs Brown. In 2005 she portrayed the role of a Hollywood actress named Christel Humanin, the stage production Kom terug, Saartjie, which played at the Klein-Karoo Nasionele Kunstefees of that year. The play is loosely based on some parts of actress Charlize Theron’s life.
In 2010 she starred in two productions at the ABSA Klein-Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees: “Taraboemdery” and “Vergenoeg” with vintage actress Sandra Prinsloo.
Milan is currently co-host of the kykNET breakfast show Ontbytsake and also stars in the M-Net drama “The Wild” set on a Game lodge in South Africa. She plays the role of Kate, a mother of a 10-year-old girl who has put her own happiness on the back burner for her husband’s passion for wild life conservation. Milan left the soap in its second season and returned for a few guest spots in The Wild’s final year and again returned for its finale in March 2013. In 2015, she played Amelia Malan in an Afrikaans romantic comedy titled “Mooirivier”.
Milan recently released her first book called “Koemelaat: ‘n Sanity-joernaal van ‘n Nuwe Ma”which deals with issues around being a first time mom.
