\nWhenever Minke returns to the West Rand, there is an immediate feeling of home. Her favourite memories aren\u2019t glam, but wonderfully ordinary. Summer Saturdays swimming while her dad braaied, her mum sitting with the cats, the dogs wandering around, camping in the backyard with her sister and even those early-morning school bus rides she once hated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to get up very early,\u201d she laughs. Earphones in, music on. But somewhere between those familiar streets and the stage at Ho\u00ebrskool Noordheuwel, the shy girl began discovering a very different version of herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was terribly shy as a child. So my parents enrolled me in a type of self-confidence school when I was five years old, and that\u2019s where it all started.\u201d<\/p>\n
In primary school, Minke started doing mime and continued until matric. By high school, the stage had become where the shy girl could disappear, and someone else could step forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first stage role was, appropriately enough, a ghost with no speaking lines. I simply ran around the stage. Then came my first speaking role, and a moment I still remember vividly \u2013 looking up into the bright stage lights, seeing the audience and feeling the rush of adrenaline and energy. I thought it was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 15, she landed her first lead in Tafel 13. When the production ended, something unexpected happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember for the first time that I experienced post-production blues. I was so sad that I wasn\u2019t going to be able to play this character again. And that\u2019s where I realised for the first time … This might actually be what I want to do with my life.\u201d And just like that, acting stopped being something she loved and became the life she wanted.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/joburg-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2026\/08\/Minke-2-266x400.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The teacher who saw the spark<\/strong> Mariki took a chance on her, helped develop her voice and taught her to harness her emotions \u2013 but most importantly, she made studying drama feel like a tangible future. \u201cLast year she called me, and she told me that it\u2019s time to take that dream on again,\u201d says Minke.<\/p>\n After taking Waterbrief to the Free State Arts Festival, Minke is bringing it home to Joburg and her old high school this September. Back home. Back to the city where her love of theatre began. And back to a story that has been waiting seven years for its next chapter.<\/p>\n Following the dream<\/strong> Minke had other plans. \u201cI told them I\u2019ll study accounting and when I\u2019m done, I\u2019ll give them the certificate and say, thank you for wasting your money. Can I please study what I want to study now?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n After her Grade 11 production, Minke walked out of the theatre into a sea of cheering parents and saw her father crying. He told her he was proud of her.<\/p>\n She went on to study Drama and Theatre Studies at Stellenbosch University, followed by honours in creative writing \u2013 because apparently acting alone wasn\u2019t quite enough. One day, she wants to create her own productions too.<\/p>\n Along the way came recognition, including winning ATKV Tienertoneel in 2019 and later being nominated for a Silwerskermfees award. But awards were never really the destination. The stories were.<\/p>\n She doesn\u2019t just play the part<\/strong> But strip away the roles, awards and television credits, and what really drives Minke is much simpler. To tell a story. For her, acting means stepping beyond herself and making someone else\u2019s world feel real.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s to be able to have the responsibility to give the voiceless a voice. To step into someone else\u2019s shoes and world and carry everything that character carries.\u201d<\/p>\n Because when you tell someone else\u2019s story, you have to honour it.<\/p>\n Plot twist: rejection<\/strong> It could have knocked her confidence, but instead taught her that rejection isn\u2019t necessarily personal. \u201cIn most cases, it\u2019s not because you\u2019re not good enough or anything personal. They just have someone else in mind or another person\u2019s appearance fits the part better.\u201d<\/p>\n For Minke, the real question is what happens when the phones stop ringing. \u201cWho are you when you get rejected from a role? Who are you when there is no work coming through?\u201d Her answer? Stay close to family, faith and the people who keep her grounded \u2013 and learn to rest. \u201cResting is part of the process, not the reward.\u201d<\/p>\n Still only the beginning<\/strong> There are challenging characters on her wish list, plenty of dream collabs, and a particular soft spot for thrillers \u2026 especially if she gets to do her own stunts.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s skydiving, a dream she\u2019s had since she was 16. Because apparently playing a murderer wasn\u2019t quite enough adrenaline.<\/p>\n But right now, Minke is learning to appreciate the chapter she\u2019s in. If it had a title, it would be Steady.<\/p>\n Perhaps that\u2019s the most refreshing thing about her. For someone whose job is to live so many different lives, she seems happiest surrounded by the people she loves, kitten Ditto included, while making time to recharge and remembering she doesn\u2019t have to rush.<\/p>\n Her advice to the shy teenager who once wondered where her voice might take her? \u201cBreathe. This is all worth it. Trust yourself and the work you put in. And never forget to enjoy where you are. This is only the start.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019d say she has that part exactly right. Because if this really is only the beginning, the next act should be a good one. Catch Minke as Shani Brink in season two of Re\u00ebnboogrant, premiering on 28 August 28 at 6.30pm on kykNET (DStv channel 144).<\/p>\n Text: RIALIEN FURSTENBERG. Image: THE FEMME COLLECTIVE \u2013 CELESTE CILLIERS PHOTOGRAPHY, SHEN\u00c9 VYVER AND NEW ME BY MARLI\u00c9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" She was the girl who once hid behind her mum\u2019s dress. Today, she\u2019s playing murderers, leading TV series, bringing theatre dreams back to life \u2013 and planning to jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane. Minke Marais has come a long way. And the best part? She\u2019s still only getting started. There are two sides […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":23209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,20],"tags":[54,10076,10079,10078,10077,10080],"class_list":["post-23206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-people","category-personalities","tag-get-it-joburg-west","tag-hoerskool-noordheuwel","tag-minke-marais","tag-ontwaak","tag-reenboogrant","tag-waterbrief"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nEvery good coming-of-age story has someone who sees the potential before the protagonist quite believes it herself. For Minke, that person was her high-school drama teacher and mentor, Mariki de Villiers-Knop.<\/p>\n
\nThe beautiful part? She never really left Minke\u2019s story. The two remain in close contact, with Minke still sending her scripts and work. And now they are working together again on Waterbrief, the one-woman production Minke first performed in her matric year.<\/p>\n
\nStudying drama wasn\u2019t initially met with wild enthusiasm at home. Like many parents, Minke\u2019s parents were concerned about the financial security of a career in the arts and suggested something more practical. Accounting, perhaps.<\/p>\n
\nAsk her to choose one favourite role, and you\u2019re asking a very sentimental actress to choose between her babies. Every project seems to have its own little corner of her heart \u2013 from theatre and four years of children\u2019s theatre with Kipper or Vlooi to the television roles that have taken her career in exciting new directions.<\/p>\n
\nThe glam version of acting doesn\u2019t always include the rejection. A few years ago, Minke went through almost 20 auditions. Only one resulted in a yes.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/joburg-west\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2026\/08\/Minke-3-267x400.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nAnd forward Minke is certainly moving.<\/p>\n