Brumilda van Rensburg with her husky voice, sharp cheek bones and striking eyes is most well known for her character of Louwna on South Africa’s great soap, Egoli. Brumilda is currently starring in an independent feature film, Three to Tango, along with one of Britain’s biggest household names Toyah Wilcox. Following in the footsteps of Calendar Girls and Mamma Mia, this light-hearted feel-good comedy is due for release in the UK this October. Says Brumilda, “It has been an incredible opportunity to play a wonderful character in Egoli for the last 18 years, but when this role came up in a feature film I jumped at the chance.”

How did you get involved with this project?
I was approached by the writer of Three to Tango, Ann Cameron, who was looking for a South African to play the character of Olivia. She saw the work I’d done on my website www.brumilda.com, watched some of my scenes in Egoli and sent me the script. I read it and immediately fell in love with the character.

What is your role in the film?
The story line is about three women turning 50 and deciding to reclaim their lives. Olivia is one of the main characters who visits London to attend her long lost friend’s 50th birthday. We all rediscover our friendship and in the process reclaim the power in ourselves.

What attracted you most to this role?
Once you reach 50, there are very few interesting roles written for women in film and television. Olivia is an intelligent, mature woman who has reached a point in her life where she doesn’t stand for any nonsense but can also see the funny side of things.

Have you ever lived in London?
I was in a play in London back in 2000 and stayed for two weeks, but Three to Tango is more about finding yourself once you’ve moved through the life stages of marriage, careers and children. I think that all women will be able to relate to the storyline.

How did you find the time to come to England to film?
As soon as I read the script I asked my Egoli producer for permission to take time out of our shooting schedule. They wrote my character out of the script for three weeks. I’m so grateful and blessed it all worked out.

What did you dream of being when you were younger?
Telling stories and making people laugh.

What us your big dream in life?
I’m living it.

What do you feel most proud of in your life?
Besides the acknowledgements and awards for my work that I’m grateful for, its more spiritual I suppose. The longevity of my career over 30 years, that I’ve never had to sell my soul, the character traits I've tried to uphold and honour such as integrity, loyalty, honesty, commitment, hard work, humbleness and knowing its all but for the grace of God helping me to make the right choices.

Brumilda’s top three movies of all time
Dangerous Liaisons
The Green Card
My Sister’s Keeper

Thereza Snyman, also a South African and the producer in Three to Tango, and was tasked with putting the business side of things together. “No-one in the traditional film-funding market was going to fund a project like this – everybody was going to tell us why it couldn’t be done, so we decided to do it our way,” said Thereza.

How did you get involved in this film?
It all originated at a dinner party in the summer of 2004. Ann, Yvonne and I concluded that no one seemed to be making movies for ‘people like us’ in which more mature actresses had a centre stage role. Ann wrote the initial script and the rest is history.

Have you worked on a movie before?
Never. It was very much a question of learning on the job.

How did the nationalities get selected?
I suppose that is fairly co-incidental. In the first drafts of the script, the characters were very loosely based on Ann, Yvonne and myself.  Ann is Canadian and I am South African.

What does it mean to you to be involved?
It is enormously satisfying – to nurse a project from conception to see the spark of enthusiasm take hold in others and to build a team. Making a movie really is a team effort.  

The producers, cast and crew all felt that it was important to give something back with this project so Three to Tango has committed to raising a certain amount of money for Breakthrough for Breast cancer in the UK. On 20 October, they will be hosting a special charity screening events to raise money and awareness for an issue that is particularly relevant for women in the 50+ age bracket.