Born on the 28th of June 1999, Lerato Marabe was just a child when she landed the role of Pretty, the loud-mouthed gossip on the set of the SABC1 educational drama Skeem Saam at 11 years old. However, the former child actress started featuring in onscreen roles as early as age five, appearing in the second season of Intersexions. Whenever the Joburg-born actress is not on set, she usually fills her time as a DJ, performing at events and parties.
More recently, Marabe led her fans to believe that she already tied the connubial knot in the Zulu traditional way. But, going by all the uncertainties surrounding the reports which were triggered by an Instagram post, that particular tale has been taken with a grain of salt. We are just banking on time and gathering facts to prove its veracity.
Profile Summary Of Lerato Marabe
- Full name: Lerato Marabe
- Date of Birth: 28th of June 1999
- Nationality: South African
- Education: Turf University
- Parents: Unkown
- Occupation: Acting, DJying
- Years Active: 2005 to date
- Net Worth: $70,000-$100,000
She Scored Her Skeem Saam Role At Age 11
Lerato Marabe had just turned 11 when the child actress became part of the cast of SABC1’s soap Skeem Saam, playing Pretty alongside her lifelong friend Oratile Maitisa who played Eunice. According to the South African beauty, she went through a myriad of fruitless auditions for different roles at the time and when her agent called with news of another audition for a brand new series, Skeem Saam, she was all for it.
On getting to the audition center, Marabe met younger kids who couldn’t score the role for obvious reasons (Pretty’s character was meant to be an 11-year-old). Thus, she was viewed as the casting agent’s last resort and given the role.
Summary Of How She Fared On The Set Of Skeem Saam
Lerato Marabe started appearing in Skeem Saam in 2010, depicting the character of Pretty. Talking about the role, the South African native mentioned the differences between her real-life character and that of Pretty. For one, Pretty who happens to be a gossip is far removed from Lerato in real life. Secondly, she tends to be quite naïve but Lerato is the type that sees things for what they really are. The only place where both characters meet is in Pretty’s outspokenness and straightforwardness which usually lands her into trouble.
Marabe who was featured as the girlfriend of Katlego Peterson, depicted by Patrick Seleka is among the cast members that started with the soap, making her one of the oldest. After a successful season one, she advanced into the second season and is still part of the show in its ninth season which is the educational drama’s most recent.
Fans Reacted Differently to Her Skeem Saam Role
Lerato Marabe’s break-out role in Skeem Saam has not been all fun for the actress as depicting a loud-mouthed gossip like Pretty got mixed reactions from fans. Those who could separate real life from fiction had no problems with the role but the same cannot be said for some fans who see no difference between the two. Fans usually walk up to her in public out of admiration but there are those that actually loathed her.
The South African beauty experienced the height of this loathing on one fateful occasion when she received a hot slap from an overenthusiastic fan; the fan probably couldn’t draw the line between real life and fiction. According to Lerato, it was during her high school days when she went to KFC with friends, the incident happened while they were standing in the queue for their meals.
Lerato Marabe Had to Juggle School and Acting
Even before Skeem Saam, Lerato Marabe has been part of the entertainment industry in both commercials and acting roles. In fact, fans of the SABC1’s educational drama practically watched her grow up onscreen as Pretty. Considering her age, it is pretty obvious that the SA actress was still a student when she landed her big role, thus, Lerato was juggling both acting and education. According to the actress, the experience has been far from easy as it was rather challenging devoting energy on both sides but she did it all the same.
Lerato Marabe said pushing school and acting at the same time presented a lot of difficulties; sometimes, she would realize that more of the efforts were going towards school, making her work suffer and vice versa. Besides, the toughest part was creating a balance between the two and it even gets tougher when you consider the fact that she was a child with chores at home.
The former child actress confessed she had to put in double efforts in those days when she would move from school to the filming location only to get home and face her own part of the house chores. Lerato described it as a push-and-pull but she still managed to get by.
Even though she described herself as someone who is not really into academics, Marabe passed her matric (at Boksburg High) and was part of those that that celebrated when they announced the results. It would appear that the actress’s acting career has not doused her quest for further academic qualifications as she has already enrolled in Turf University studying for her first degree. Lerato is also a student of AFDA Cape Town where she is studying editing. She appears to be doing well in landing lucrative endorsements; Drip Footwear recently named her one of their current official ambassadors.
Appearing in Skeem Saam is Lerato Marabe’s biggest role to date and it goes without saying that it opened an inroad into other roles for the actress in both acting and the commercials. These are the shows she has been featured in.
- Skeem Saam – 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th seasons as Pretty;
- Isibaya – 1st season as Nelisa;
- Mzansi Love – 3rd season as Babalwa;
- Intersexions – 2nd season as Mpho;
- End Game – 1st season as Precious.
She was recently featured on the cover page of Move! Magazine where she talked about her experience in Skeem Saam.
Why Fans Concluded She Has Tied The Nuptial Knot
The 21-year-old recently shocked fans when she took to the picture-sharing platform, Instagram, to upload images of herself all donned in traditional bridal attire. It goes without saying that the photos led several of her fans to the conclusion that the SA beauty was officially off the marriage market. There was also another shot of Lerato Marabe and her brother whom they said was there to support his sister on her big day.
Following the Instagram upload, several publications reported that Lerato actually got married in real life. However, we must acknowledge some aspects of the story that don’t seem to add up. For one, fans have been expecting to get the details of the wedding and to date, nothing is forthcoming. Again, the identity of the bridegroom has remained a mystery even up to this moment and we are yet to factor in the fact that none of her Skeem Saam cast members attended the ceremony.
Even with all these doubts on the veracity of the marriage tale, some fans still went ahead to corroborate the story. They found believable excuses for the non-attendance of her castmates, blaming it on the strict lockdown rules placed on social gatherings by the government. Only time will tell whether the Lerato Marabe marriage tale is true or not.
