South African celebs less celebrated in SA

Charlize Theron

South African actors and musicians are more readily recognised overseas than what they are in their home country

Images of US or UK celebs being hassled at the local supermarket by adoring fans are beamed all over the world. Salacious titbits and juicy gossip are spread all over the pages of newspapers and magazines.

Yet open a South African magazine or newspaper and celebs are hardly if ever mentioned. South African celebs are dissed in Pick`n'Pay and totally ignored at the ATM queue. Simply put, many South Africans wouldn't know a South African celebrity.

In fact, South African actors and musicians are more readily recognised overseas than what they are in their home country. Charlize Theron is probably an exception, but that's probably due only to the fact that she mentioned Benoni was her hometown in her Oscar acceptance speech.

With the advent of the new iViews platform, weekly interviews of our homegrown stars will yank them out of obscurity into the life of superstars.

"While most big stars complain about the intrusion on their lives fame has brought, I'm sure the majority of them actually couldn't live without it", says Rowan Polovin.

Whilst access to our local stars is limited, the iViews interviews will enable South Africans of all ages to have a greater insight into the talent that is so appreciated overseas.

"iViews benefits both the fans and the stars, the fans get to see and hear more about their idols, the stars have a great way to get their message across. It is not intended for the site to become a place for SA stars to plug their latest records or films, more an opportunity for them to make themselves more real to their fans," continues Polovin.

Politicians, sports stars and models will also be in the mix and subscribers are invited to nominate who they would like to see interviewed and even to suggest questions they would like asked. Currently receiving the star treatment are Helen Zille, Tracy McGregor and Frans Cronje.

"So whether it's Thabo Mbeki, Schalk Burger, Leon Schuster or the latest evictee of Big Brother SA or Survivor SA, nominate them and we will do our utmost to secure the interview", ends Polovin.

So South African celebs no longer have an excuse to moan about not being recognised, if they get onto iViews there's a whole audience out there waiting to see them.