Coming 2 America star, Nomzamo Mbatha, this week spoke to Trevor Noah about how she landed the role in the popular movie.
Please watch the snippet of the movie below:
TN: Congratulations on not just being part of the biggest film but also being one of the breakout stars. I mean, do you ever take a moment to think about how amazing that is. Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Wesley Snipes, you know, they are like, man, that Nomzamo She’s amazing!
NM: It is crazy it is crazy I mean, honestly, it’s been an out of body experience for the longest time, You know, when Eddie came on to set, or Arsenio and it’s not Arsenio Hall, Just Arsenio and Wesley NOT Wesley Snipes. So, yeah it’s been an amazing journey honestly in a very incredible. Out of Body coming together like a full circle moment for me.
TN: Your coming to America story was almost as crazy as the original Coming to America story because you have to audition for this movie, you were not in the country when you were doing it.
NM: So it’s crazy, I was in the UAE, I literally flew from New York to Switzerland to the UAE. By the time that I was in the UAE, I was supposed to fly back to South Africa, where I was to host the South African Music Awards.
I got a call the night before my flight from my agent and he says, You want to be in the room for this one. You can send us a tape, but you want to be in the room. And I was like, Listen, I’ve spent so much money flying in and out. These audition are not working out and I’m not gonna spend another penny.
And he said well it’s for the lead for Coming to America!
I literally changed my flight from flying out of Abu Dhabi to South Africa to a new flight from Dubai to LA.
I drove from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and caught a flight from Dubai into LA where I did my audition.
TN: Many people in America do not know that before you can work in the USA there is a big process. I mean, First of all, you come into America with a tourist visa, and then you move from being a tourist to being somebody that’s employed in America.
NM: So it’s a whole process I mean I remember even when I, you know, got the call to make it back to the States. It was like, You need to come back, you need to sign papers so that we can give you, you know your official visa and go back to the embassy in South Africa, to have that visa in your passport, and then come back. Let me tell you I was like, I really genuinely deserve this movie.
TN: If you’re going to come work in America, you can come in for the interview and then Americans can accept you for the job, but then you have to go back to your country, so that Americans in your country can stamp your passport and put a visa in your passport so that you can come back to the country, which is America so that you can get the job, and what happens in between is, you get to meet some of the most interesting people in the process.
So on my side. I’ll never forget the guy who was working, you know, immigration. He looked at my visa and he’s like, Yo, man. yo yo visa says you are a Comedian.
And I said yeah and he said my old one means you the best of the best. I said well I’m just good at what I do. And he’s like what do you do, I said I’m a comedian, like the Michael Jordan of comedy. And was like: hey man, if I see your jokes and they’re not funny. You’re going back to your country, you hear me, and then he stamped my passport, and I came in!
Please watch the video above this post for more details.
