WATCH: Six Nyamane ignored her mother’s desires to pursue a career in academia.

Six Nyamane, born Mpume, is one of the newest faces to grace our television screens as Nozipho Cele on SABC 1’s popular soapie, Generations: The Legacy.

Born Mpume , Nyamane is known for playing roles such as the sassy Buhle on e.tv’s Scandal!, the cutthroat Natasha on the comedy film Blessers and Amogelang on Rhythm City.

“People always ask whether my real name is ‘Six’ and I always say ‘Yes’ because I tend to believe it is. I got that name from my days of playing provincial hockey and I played position six. With the team being so big, the coaches don’t have time to learn our names, so they refer us to the numbers on the pitch,” the actor explains.

“Even off the pitch, we as a team as well as the coaches, used to call each other by our numbers… and somehow we just kept our names and I kept mine despite pursuing an acting career.

“I started playing hockey in grade 4 up to matric. I stopped playing after moving to Johannesburg because I couldn’t find a team and besides, I truly don’t have the time – so I wouldn’t be able to keep up with practice, let alone the games.”

The 25-year-old mother to a three-year-old hails from Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal. She stumbled upon her love for acting in her first year at the University of SA (Unisa), and despite her love for her craft her mother was not quite fond of the idea that she was pursuing an acting career over academics.

“I lived in Newcastle all my life and when I finished matric, I knew I had to come to the big city to pursue some sort of career. I had no plan when I arrived in the City of Gold because my family shut down the idea of me studying sports science or playing hockey professionally, all I knew is that I had to go to school,” said the young woman.

“I remember looking around for schools but ended up in the same Unisa I initially didn’t want to study at. I studied finance for a couple of months but found myself uninterested in the course, so I started ditching classes for auditions – this is after a guy I met at the gym told me I had a face for television.

“I went to my very first audition and I got the role. I then chose to secretly shoot the film without my family knowing but somehow the school called my mother to inform her that I didn’t attend school or write my exam… to say my mother was furious with me is an understatement, she didn’t talk to me for two weeks.”

Despite her mother’s desires, Nyamane continued to hone her acting skills. She landed several gigs, and her mother eventually caved after seeing how dedicated her daughter was to her craft.