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She’s been through tough times but Amor Vittone (44) always manages to keep smiling. And now the singer and TV personality has extra reason to do so.
This Afrikaans-speaker of Italian descent recently joined the cast of soapie 7de Laan in a new role and viewers will soon be introduced to her character, Zelda.
“I enjoy this role enormously,” Amor says. “Zelda’s very self-assured; she calls a spade a spade and she’s a bit common, so there’s depth to her character. It’s a great challenge.”
Zelda is a family member of someone in Hillside and sticks her nose in other people’s business.
Amor sent a video recording her daughter, Kylie (10), had made of her to the 7de Laan producers. After going for an audition she was called back for a second round and then a third. Finally, on Friday last week she heard that she’d been picked to play Zelda.
“It’s the first time I’m in a soapie. Everything happens very fast and you must make sure you know your lines – the exact lines, you can’t improvise! It’s emotionally tiring.”
But she has nothing but praise for the 7deLaan team and says they’re all “amazing”. “We have a dialogue coach and that helps incredibly much.”
She says even though she feels comfortable in front of the cameras it’s still a challenge. “When you talk to actors who’ve been doing this for a long time they’ll you they still get butterflies in their stomach every time they do a scene.
“It was overwhelming on the first day but it was as if I was surrounded by angels and everything went well. There are many people on set and the production runs like a well-oiled machine.”
Her character will make her debut at the end of November and will be on screen for a month. Amor says although she’s had to get used to the long hours she’s decided to take things one day at a time.
“Fortunately my parents are around and they help where they can. Joost and his nurse also help by fetching the kids from school.”
Amor says she’d always been aware of 7de Laan’s storylines but didn’t follow the show closely because her son, Jordan (12), is usually watching soccer on TV.
And how does Joost feel about this new chapter in her life?
“He’s very excited and glad that I’m doing something I love.”
