South Africans would be most familiar with Celeste Loots’ breakthrough role as Kaya in One Piece which earned her a spot in the IMDbPro Top 100 StarMeter in September 2023.
She also grabbed attention as Zanne in Trompoppie – and now she’s back on Showmax with her biggest role yet: Amanda in the university koshuis drama Wyfie (watch the trailer on YouTube).
Celeste Loots on Showmax series ‘Wyfie’
In an interview with Showmax’s Amanda Tremeer-Young, Celeste reveals why she wanted to become an actor. “I think I’ve always been drawn to acting but I didn’t decide that I wanted to act right after school; I first started studying at the University of Cape Town with the plan to go into law,” she recalled.
“I then had drama as an elective subject and that’s how I met the other drama people. I had a feeling in my bones that I had to do this thing. I then auditioned for a place in the theatre and performing arts degree programme without telling anyone. My family didn’t know about it either. Only when I was accepted, I was like, ‘Surprise, you guys! New plan!'”
She explains that Wyfie, a series about four university girls who try to figure out life together, draws from the real world. “I think the overall vibe of Wyfie sums up what it feels like to be 19 years old; that first moment of freedom in the world while there is still all this stuff going on in your personal life. You are expected to be this adult, but you don’t know how to be an adult… So then you just go and drink!”
About her character Amanda
Celeste says her character Amanda is “quite messy,” opinionated and passionate. “She has a massive passion for life, and she lives in the moment. She is very impulsive and a very big extrovert who looks for the kind of experiences that make good stories. She has good intentions, but it’s that typical thing that happens when you’re 19 years old: you’re quite selfish, but you don’t quite realise it yet; and you accidentally hurt people, although that isn’t your intention.”
She admits to some similarities between her and Amanda, as she is also stubborn “when I feel like it.” She adds, “I can also relate to how she is protective of the people she cares about – and when she cares, she cares a lot. I initially auditioned for another character, but when they called me back to do another audition, it was for that character, as well as for Amanda. And it was the strangest thing because when I walked out of that room, I could feel her [Amanda] in my body. Amanda was so in me. It was a very special thing to experience.”
Relationship with co-stars
Celeste reveals that she and Mienke Ehlers, who plays Mia, were in primary school together in Paarl. “We were in the same class and have known each other since we were about six years old. I went to a different high school, so we drifted apart for a while. It’s pretty special to come back to someone you knew so long ago,” she explains.
“With Beáta [Bena Green] and Kristen [Raath], it quickly began to feel like a family. It sounds so cheesy, but we really had such an easy bond and an easy chemistry between all four of us, which I think transfers into the story, and onto the screen. We have one day off a week and then we will still go to lunch together or something.”
Reasons to watch ‘Wyfie’
“People should watch Wyfie because it is a series that is not shy. This is a series that wants to look at characters that people can relate to. It feels like the series is stepping into life and showing how everything feels and looks from the inside, instead of looking in from the outside,” Celeste concludes.