Bio
Heidi Mollentze is a South African actress, singer, voice artist, dialogue coach, presenter and performance coach best known for her role as Helen Patterson (aka Sally Smith), on the SABC1 soapie Generations, in 2007.
Born and raised in Bloemfontein, she is the eldest of three children (she has a brother, Werner and a sister, Marieke). Her mother is a radiologist and her father a professor in Internal Medicine at the University of the Orange Free State (UOFS).
Heidi matriculated with an A-average symbol from Fichardt Park High School in Bloemfontein in 1990. In her first year out of school she enrolled at UOFS to do a BA (Ed) Drama, which she completed in 1994. The following hear she did her Honours (Drama), graduating cum laude.
Since 1996 she has built an impressive array of credits in television, theatre and radio and has coached drama and voice.
Television series she has acted in include Suburban Bliss, Die Vierde Kabinet, Voete van Goud, Die Casper Rasper Show, Haak en Steek, Zing, Popstars, Jozi Streets, Dit Wat Stom Is, Villa Rosa, Isidingo (the mini-series), Om-i-Wereld, Angel Song, Generations and Egoli.
On the TV reality shows Zing 1 & 2 and Pop Idols 2, Heidi M was the official performance coach, while she was a co-producer and the presenters’ coach on the game show Om-i-Wêreld.
Theatre productions she has played the female lead in, include Kringe in 'n Bos, The King and I, The Buddy Holly Story, Skilpoppe, Little Shop of Horrors, Whore and My Boetie se Sussie se Ou.
The theatre productions she has directed include the drama: The Laramie Project, the cabaret: The Life of Us and the Bollywood musical: Fusion.
She is also a highly sought-after voice artist on radio and television, most recently performing in the Radio Sonde Grense soapie Insimbi, among other radio drama projects.
In addition, Heidi has acted in the film Swansong for Charlie, directed by Bobby Heaney; and the short film Parys se Moses, in 2006.
She also runs a communications skills workshop called Homebound with Heidi Mollentze, which aims to better South African workers' confidence in English communication.
Heidi is fluent in English and Afrikaans and performs in a wide variety of accents, including all local dialects, Puerto Rican, Russian, French and Indian.
An interview with Heidi was published in GET IT! magazine in November 2009, conducted by Lindsay Batteson. Click the picture below to download a PDF document of the full interview (opens in a new window).
