The plan behind the improvisation: Jessica Nkosi. Photo: Taff Studios
Jessica Nkosi, the award-winning actress and TV presenter, known for her roles in Isibaya, Ayeye and The Queen, knows how to improvise. But make no mistake, behind every performance and every parenting decision, there’s a plan.
And that’s the part of Jessica’s story we don’t often hear. Her successful career might look like luck from the outside, but her path has been anything but accidental.
“People think you just audition and get lucky — but there’s a strategy. You work on your craft, your network, your visibility. You plan where you want to go.”
Initially, Jessica studied law, before switching to drama to follow her true passion.
“I studied law as a way of just getting a degree. I thought, just give it to your parents and then go and pursue acting. But in between, I wondered, why am I basing my life on what my parents want and everybody in the world is saying?”
“I am very stubborn, and your characteristics can be a positive or negative, and some people take stubbornness as like, ‘Oh, you’re so stubborn. You should stop it.’ And yes, but sometimes don’t look at something only negatively. Stubbornness can be a positive, you know.”
Reflecting on those early days as a drama student, she was wondering, “What am I going to do when I graduate? I need to get to Johannesburg. Okay, so how do I get to Johannesburg? I’m writing down all of the agencies in Joburg. I’m calling them all because I’m graduating. I need to get a break.”
Jessica would write down lists of the shows she dreamed of being cast in, lists of the casting agencies and potential auditions. She stayed with a relative in Johannesburg for two years, saving her money to buy her own furniture when she started renting her own place.
Unlike many young people who get their first paycheck, Jessica decided not to touch the money from one of her first jobs as a presenter on My Perfect Wedding.
“I wanted to keep my money and just spend the interest. Because I was getting a salary from Isibaya, I was living off of that, and I could keep the extra money and invest. It’s a privilege that I don’t take lightly.”
Her attitude towards saving hasn’t changed from those early days.
“I like seeing money in my accounts. I hate when the money goes down. I’m like, no, I’m not going to spend this. I’m not buying this because I need this number to increase, you know?”
It’s an attitude that her fans may not expect in the social media era. But Jessica shares her advice for her followers, “Please don’t chase a lifestyle that is beyond what you are getting paid, that’s beyond your means. You know you will get there. Work hard, focus on your craft. You will make that money but relax. Don’t rush to get your car the first year. Now you can’t buy groceries because you’re paying for your car.”
When it comes to her two young children, she also wants to teach them that patience.
“I want my kids to see what it looks like to be intentional. I want them to understand saving, delayed gratification, and working toward something.”
Her father passed away when Jessica was in Grade 11, and she notes, “I was preparing to apply to be a prefect in Matric, and I was thinking do I allow my father’s passing to derail me, and not make him proud? Or do I thrive and become a prefect?
“And I know that he was smiling going, ‘That’s my girl.’”
After he died, Jessica remembers finding all the permission slips that he had signed for her to leave boarding school to go to modelling classes and jobs, and thinking, “He might not be here anymore, but he already had an idea that this girl is going to be a bit different. And I thought him just easily signing these slips, was him saying, ‘Yes, go do what you want. Be different and go against the herd.’”
By now, her optimism is not surprising. She clearly has goals and a plan on how to achieve them, with no room for negativity.
“There’s power in the tongue. I always say that God created the world by speaking and then gave that same power to us. So if you’re speaking negatively over your life, what do you think is going to happen? I always speak life and speak blessings and speak goodness.”
And that’s why her voice matters, not just as a well-known talent, but as one of the many mothers who aren’t just living life, but playing the lead role in it.