18 February 2008

The Ministry of Arts & Culture is deeply shocked and saddened by the untimely passing away of a young, gifted, South African television actress, Ms Ashley Callie who died on Friday following a head-on accident recently.

However, we are very thankful for the life of an African creative artist and actress whose life expressed the triumph of the human spirit in the most inspiring transformation age of our times.

We hope that her family, friends, relatives and fans will allow her spirit rest in peace.

The life of Ms. Ashley Callie reveals the continuing spectre of death that haunts our roads and claims countless lives of highly gifted people that are pivotal to nurture a spirit of national unity and weave a new nation.

The young Ms Callie was special because her life is a testament of the unmistakable African talent that has emerged in the post-apartheid society to capture and reflect the essence of change and transformation through the small screen.

Of course, her rise to continent wide recognition was essentially linked to the multi-award winning soapy, Isidingo – The Need which has established itself as the ultimate yardstick of meaningful and relevant television production that is intuitively connected to the spirit of a new society.
The presence of Ms. Callie was an important ingredient to the character and profile of the production.

Her training began at the renowned Wits School of the Dramatic Arts where she graduated with a BA in Drama in the 1990s.

From 2000 to the time of her unexpected death, Ms. Callie channelled her energies to the portrayal of Leonie Haines who quickly became a house hold name.

In her own way, Ms Callie was the sort of artist who was in the forefront of projecting a new image of the realities of the country in a character that was true to her self rather than a particular group.

More specifically, she helped fashioned a new genre of television soapy that reflected the realities of her own country.

There is very little doubt that Ms Callie has made a significant contribution to laying a solid foundation to the redefinition of indigenous South African television content.

Her life will be a shining star that will provide inspiration and guidance to many young talented future global stars that will come from this part of the world.

Isidingo – The Need can rightly be considered the high water mark of Ms Callie’s brilliant artistry because her television work endeared her to young and old who recognized her in the streets and celebrated her insightful depiction of a South African slice of life.

Ms. Callie’s life and career is a cornerstone of the new wave of colour-blind story-telling and acting. She acted very well in her role to not only bear testament to the innate talent in many of our young people but to pave the way for a television audience to recognize and accept a non-racial society.

This is a single important contribution that an artist can make to the definition of nation’s soul.

We were truly blessed to have a young, gifted, South African who stretched all the sinews in her body to reflect the ideals of a united, non-racial and non-sexist society.

Lala Ngoxolo, Ms Callie!

Ends

For further details, call Sandile Memela, Spokesperson for the Minister of Arts & Culture at 082 800 3750 or Premi Appalraju, Media Liaison Officer at 082 903 6778

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