Tanit Phoenix

Izimvo is honoured to introduce the talented Tanit Phoenix.

As one of South Africa’s most gorgeous super models and rising international actors, Durban born Tanit began her modeling career at the young age of 15. Tanit broke on to the international scene after staring in a German commercial and soon after was crowned 1994 Woman-of-the-year by European Maxim.

Tanit’s film career includes Lord of War with Nicolas Cage, Lost Boys: the Thirst with Corey Feldman and Gallowwalker with Wesley Snipes. Tanit has recently completed the soon to be released movie adaptation of Spud in which she plays Ms Eve Wilson.

Website: http://www.tanitphoenix.co.za
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1801063
Blog: http://www.tanitphoenix.co.za/blog

Tanit was kind enough to answer the following questions:

Personal

Q: How would you like to be introduced if you were presenting an award at the Oscars?

A: What an honour! By then I will be a multiple award-winning actress myself and my name would speak for itself. :)

Q: Tell us something that not many others know about you. This could be anything from a phobia to your favorite scene in a movie.

A: I have been studying Metaphysics, Quantum Physics, World Religion and Anthropology over the past few years, and was raised in a family of deep thinkers… philosophers. I believe Spirituality is not just an awareness that there is more in the universe than what we see every day, but that we are the very reason why everything is the way it is. We are faced with the very fact that our own conscious thoughts (wave vibrations with magnetic attractions) are creating what we see and feel in our own lives, in the world.

Q: What do you enjoy doing when you want to get away from it all?

A: I travel, to 3rd world countries. I want to see the world as the people who live in the places I travel to do. Inspired by culture and music and a sense of freedom, I want to explore who I am and my limitations, so far I have learnt I have very few. The most interesting thing though is that I do not need much more than the backpack I carry. I love travelling. I have lived in the jungle with the local tribe people and worked very closely with wild animals.

Q: How would you describe your dream home and where in South Africa would you like it to be?

A: A self sustainable Eco friendly home, non evasive to the environment and definitely on a property that has fresh mountain water… It would be in a very tropical place away from electricity, perhaps I would buy land in South Africa to create this project but it more than likely will be in Asia or South America close the warm ocean but high up on a hill or on a mountain side surrounded by coconut palms and enough land to farm organic herbs, fruits and veggies.

I also study self sustainable living, medicinal plants and organic farming, so my dream home would comprise of efficient ways to make energy and store it, I would only use water that flowed from the mountain on my farm and only eat foods grown on my land.

To live like this really does not mean you are going backwards, but rather that you are allowing yourself to have a healthier and more energetic life. With what we know today, I have no doubt it is actually a massive advancement in evolution of our consciousness. I believe we can only evolve when we enable ourselves to think out of the normal conditions we are faced with in today’s world. And that starts from the foods we eat, to the water we drink. (What many people do not realise is that foods carry a vibration of energy and the fresher the food the higher the energy contained. Basically your brain synapses fire faster with foods that contain a higher vibrational frequency, allowing you to assimilate information at a faster rate. In essence, We heighten our IQ and can process thoughts quicker.) I find this fascinating and want to give my (future) children a chance to live the way we should be living today.

Acting in South Africa

Q: South African film has gone through a renaissance with the recent success of movies such as Totsi, District 9 and now “Life, Above All”. To what would you attribute the recent success and do you feel that enough is being done to promote South African film to local audiences?

A: I have just had this discussion with “Hollywood Reporter“, and today South Africa is very hot property. There is a lot of waves being made, we have multi talented film makers and script writers and actors waiting for their chance to show the world what they are capable of. Although, I feel our industry members are being exploited when international films do decide to shoot in SA, we earn far less than our American friends and we have no union to back us up. I do however believe this will change in time as the industry grows, and South Africa makes it mark internationally.

Q: You’ve recently wrapped production on the movie adaptation of Spud. Tell us a little about your role as the drama teacher, Mrs Eve Wilson and what it was like working with John Cleese?

A: Eve Wilson is the free-spirited drama teacher that has an affair with a 15 year old boy. I had fun with her character. She has a way about her that intrigues the boys, and she crosses the line without really thinking about the circumstances, being so open to expression and her feelings about freedom. She is recently estranged from her husband, I guess Eve starts to enjoy the flirtatious behaviour from the boys, particularly from one boy named Robert/Rambo.

John Cleese was great to work with, he hugged me a lot, haha. He truly is wonderful man, we first met when I bumped into him off set on the farm I was staying at close to the Michael house school. He asked me my name once and then started to call me Phoenix. I remember one scene where I walked onto stage on the scene rehearsal for the school play ‘Oliver Twist’. Cameras were rolling and I had Spud’s Blond wig in my hand, before I knew it I had tripped over a wooden step and went flying onto the stage, it was very comical. John then said laughing, ‘You don’t have to overact it darling.’ Everyone just burst out laughing. I almost broke my toe in the process.

Q: Can you give us an insight into the daily life of an actor? Is it really as glamorous as it seems?

A: Oh I find it tremendously glamorous, but in a different way than what you are expecting me to say. Learning pages and pages of script, getting into the mind of a character, letting it take over your own identity, and I have become so good at accents, I love playing around with tone and dialect, and then figuring out how I would emote with the words in the script. Oh I love my job! It is a lot of homework, I take my work very seriously!

For me it’s not about celebrity parties, red carpets and cameras flashing, it is about doing something that scares me, to lose myself in the mind of character I am playing, which I find myself doing more and more with every film I choose to do. My love life suffered from this, as recently my boyfriend had a hard time distinguishing me from the person I was playing. It was a big learning curve for both of us, but amazing too. To be that person in the situation that’s been scripted, that is the real thrill, to make the audience so enraptured in your performance that they carry that feeling with them for a lifetime.

Q: Which young South African actors have recently impressed you the most and who would you consider as South Africa’s greatest actor?

A: I liked working with Troye Sivan, who played the character of Spud from the film adaptation of John Van Ruit’s books. Troye grew up in Joburg and then moved to Australia, he is very polite and professional. I guess having his mom around him 24/7 helps. Young actors, models, musicians etc. who have no grounding or guiding parent, stand the chance of falling prey to bad habits and bad behaviour. I take my hat off to Troye’s mom for being so on hand with his career.

South Africa’s greatest Actor for me is still Charlize Theron. She is brilliant with her portrayal of all the characters she has played so far. I would love to shoot a film with her.

Q: If you had to select only one of your performances to represent your body of work, which would you pick and why?

A: My recent film: Death Race. It was a very intense role as it was really my first opportunity to play lead in such a huge Hollywood production by Universal Studios. I played opposite Sean Bean, Ving Rhames, Luke Goss and Danny Trejo as a military sniper who is sent to jail for killing her superior officer.

Through the journey of the film you learn why I am so hard ass, and why I slowly begin to fall in love with the lead actor played by Luke Goss. Luke is burnt alive in a car accident in one of the last scenes, and I have never put so much of myself out there before, with so much emotion in front of so many people. In the scene Luke’s car explodes, and is lying upside down in full flame. I run into the warehouse, and its revealed how I truly feel for Luke. Danny Trejo runs in and tries to hold me back while I fight him off me, in tears I scream for people to help Luke. The director was on the steady cam, shooting high-speed film, 360 degree walking around me. We shot the scene a few times, and it was exhausting, intense and scary; and so very fulfilling, I am very proud of myself. From that day I know what I am capable of and how much more I want to give. The head of Universal Studios came to me after seeing the daily’s and told me the studio is thrilled to have found me here in SA.

Q: What can we look forward to from Tanit Phoenix for the remainder of the year and beyond?

A: I have 4 movies coming out this year. I shot a short film that will be airing at Sun-dance film festival, and I have a few more films up my sleeve that I am unable to speak about right now due to their nature of being confidential. I have 2 covers coming out, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire. I am facing my acting career head on. I feel alive and excited and so focused and I want directors and producers to take me seriously. For this reason I have taken it easy on my modelling career. Although, I do have a wonderful Woolworths lingerie campaign coming out, very HOT! I am still doing a few TV commercials here and there, but my focus now, is on being known as the top actress in SA, and taking on leading American actress’s in the states.

Life in South Africa

Q: What do you miss most about life in South Africa when away for extended periods of time?

A: The care free way of living. I love that about coming home, I feel like I can just be real and wear my flip-flops and shorts and cycle to the beach. I miss marmite and my dog Indie and my mom and her amazing hugs. I love being able to wake up in my own bed and call my sister any time of the day.

Q: When asked internationally about crime in South Africa, how do you respond?

A: It is a sad issue, but really, it’s about taking care of yourself and your belongings and being street smart! I travel to 1st, 2nd and 3rd world countries all over the world, it’s the same everywhere. So I tell internationals, if you are going to carry your camera around your neck, wear a ring on each finger, leave your house unlocked or your bags on your front seat of your car while you are away from your car, expect to get robbed.

Q: What advice would you offer to first-time visitors looking for the ultimate South African experience?

A: I always suggest to do a road trip! Make a list of great wine farms, the best sites to see i.e. the Kruger, and the best places for actions sports like Wind Surfing and Scuba diving, don’t leave out the Bungi jump at Bloukrans. Then start in Cape town, hire a car, take a good map and do the wilderness coastal road trip all the way up to Durban. Then head through the Karoo on the way back. It is undoubtedly the best way to see SA. Don’t forget to eat at as many seafood restaurants as you can! And try our Biltong…

General

Q: What was it about being an actress that first attracted you and if you had not become an actress, which career path do you think you would’ve selected?

A: I wanted to be an astronaut from a very young age. I have a very inquisitive mind and a wild imagination. So, naturally I wanted to travel space in search of other worlds (the possibility of other life in the universe fascinated me). I was a very shy girl growing up, with a hidden desire for self-expression. It did not take me long to get into modelling and My passion for travel took over. Travelling the world was such an eye opener. Then suddenly, While in Paris, I was stopped by a passerby. The man suggested I audition for a film called Alexander the Great. At that stage I had never taken an acting class, and it suddenly struck me, this is what I want to do. So I took his advice, rocked up at the audition, with absolutely no experience and later found out I had cast for the role that Angelina Jolie played. It was exhilarating. I then made it my mission to expand my knowledge of acting.

Q: If you could invite three actors from any era to dinner, who would you invite and what South African dish would you serve?

A: Oh only 3? Why?? I am in love with so many different actors for so many reasons.. For their different ways in portraying characters.. oh my.. Ok, then it will have to be Meryl Streep, Anthony Hopkins and Audrey Hepburn. I would serve our finest seafood: Cob, yellowtail, Tuna, salmon, oysters, calamari, crayfish, crab and prawns on the braai with an array of mouth-watering salads, butternut feta and spinach, and mielies, not to forget the traditional pap and sous! haha

Q: What advice would you offer parents whose children display a natural talent for the performing arts from a young age?

A: Support them, encourage them and be at their side when they need you. Children need to know they can be anything they set their minds on and hearts too. Anyone can be the best at something they want, as long as they have a guiding hand making sure they stay on the right path without getting lured into bad habits and bad company.

Q: Who would you most like to read about on Izimvo and what would you ask them?

A: Nikola Tesla, but he is not with us anymore.. ‘Tesla built the Wardenclyffe laboratory and its famous transmitting tower in Shoreham, Long Island between 1901 and 1905. This huge landmark was 187 feet high, capped by a 68-foot copper dome which housed the magnifying transmitter. It was planned to be the first broadcast system, transmitting both signals and power without wires to any point on the globe. The huge magnifying transmitter, discharging high frequency electricity, would turn the earth into a gigantic dynamo which would project its electricity in unlimited amounts anywhere in the world.’

I would ask him what inspired him and then what he thinks of time travel.

We’d like to thank Tanit for taking the time to answer our questions and wish her every success for the future.

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