#INTHESPOTLIGHT: TUMI MORAKE – ACTRESS, COMEDIAN / TELEVISION PRESENTER

Tumi was born in the Free State. In 2000 she relocated to Gauteng where she studied Drama at Wits University and started working in the industry at Arepp Theatre for Life, a touring educational theatre company, working in Free State, North West and Gauteng. She has worked as a puppeteer, actress and facilitator. After two years of giving back to her community, she came back to Johannesburg, attending whatever writing workshops she could, and working on her stand-up routines. She entered the comedy scene officially in July 2005 with Parker Leisure Management and performs regular stand-up gigs in Johannesburg and Pretoria. She has shared the stage with comics such as David Kau, Marc Lottering, Barry Hilton and Chris Forrest; at festivals such as Heavyweights Comedy Jam, Blacks Only, Have a Heart, Just Because Comedy Festival, The Tshwane Comedy Festival, The Lifestyle SA Festival and Old Mutual Comedy Encounters. In 2007 she MC'd at the 8th Annual Woodstock Festival. Tumi's the only female among the international and local acts at the 2009 Vodacom Funny Festival. A highlight of her career was being part of the 46664 It's No Joke line-up. With one foot in the theatre as well, she toured to the Danse l'Afrique Danse! festival in France, performing a dance piece choreographed by Hlengiwe Lushaba (Winner of the Young Artist Award for dance 2005). Her passion for acting began when she saw her first musical at Mmabana Mmabatho aged 5. Her film credits include supporting role in the international award-winning films Jerusalema, Skin and Joburg. Writing is her second love and Kenny Makenzo (sole writer) and Nomzamo (seven episodes) were her debuts into the TV industry. She was also a script writer for the SABC3 dramedy For Sale, in 2007. In 2006 Getting It On, a short film she co-wrote, won an award for Best Short Cut at the prestigious VUKA! Awards. Also in 2007, she made a guest appearance in the role of Dineo on the SABC2 Afrikaans-language drama series Erfsondes (The Sins of Our Fathers). She also played a cameo role on the SAFTA award-winning sitcom City Ses'la. Tumi was the fifth host of the Comedy Central series Comedy Central Presents... Live at Parker's, in 2012. In 2013 her stand-up special Tumi Morake: HERStory aired on Comedy Central. In 2014 she co-hosted the 8th Annual South African Film and Television Awards. She also began hosting the Mzansi Magic reality series Our Perfect Wedding, taking over from Phumeza Mdabe. She hosted 13 episodes of Season 4 and the first 13 episodes of Season 5, after which she made way for new presenter Aya Mpama, as per the show's tradition