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South Africa's sweetheart on-screen and off
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April 14, 2009
To viewers, Pippa Venter, played by Nadia Valvekens, is regarded as the sweetheart of Binnelanders.
Tonight caught up with the 27-year-old Pretoria-born actress during a recent set visit and found that Venter's friendly disposition is unvarying on and off camera.
Dressed in her nurse's uniform with her legs tucked beneath her, she settles nicely into the comfy couch in the green room before divulging her background.
"The first thing I did was co-present Die Nutsman (2003) with Riaan Venter. It gave me a gap in the industry. Then along came a brief stint in Egoli: Place of Gold just after."
But the show that really propelled her into the limelight was 7de Laan, where Danie Odendaal cast her as Nicole Kannemeyer, a jewellery designer-cum-thief.
A year later she landed minor parts in Scandal, Song vir Katryn and Villa Rosa before auditioning for the role of Stefanie in Binnelanders.
While Rolanda Marais landed the part, the makers created the character Pippa Venter for Valvekens.
Fours years down the line, she is still with the soap.
"Initially, they wanted to test the waters and see if the character works," explains Valvekens. "From there it just grew into something bigger and she is a lovely character - she's everyone's friend and inspires people to be better."
On whether she has tired of her goody-two-shoes role, she says, "I must say I have had beautiful storylines like the one where Pippa's mother dies. It was a challenge to bring out the emotions and people live it with you. Then I had Malan cheat on me …"
As for where this relationship between Pippa and Andreas (played by Heinz Winckler) is headed, Valvekens smiles, "That's love. It is difficult to say what is going to happen, we learn as we go along."
Is there a love triangle in the offing, I push.
"Let's just say that Pippa finds love again and discovers that it is different the second time around."
Hmm … I guess we will just have to wait and see how this romance plays out.
Binnelanders is on M-Net on weekdays at 6pm.
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