Sithembile Xola Pearl Thusi (born 13 May 1988) is a South African actress, model, television host, and radio personality. Pearl has made great strides both on the African continent and abroad breaking glass ceilings and paving the way for future talent in the creative industries.

Her entry into the entertainment space began when she was just a teenager. She was crowned first runner-up at Miss SA Teen in 2003 and won Miss KwaZulu Natal in 2005. After high school she moved from Durban to Johannesburg with the aim of pursuing her tertiary studies in the Dramatic Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand. This move laid the foundation for an incredible and illustrious career which led to Pearl Thusi becoming one of the most striking faces on African Television.

As a host, she entertained audiences on The Real Goboza before she moved on to South Africa’s biggest music show, LiveAmp, while simultaneously doing Tropika Island of Treasure 5 – which was shot in Jamaica. She was a contestant and was later asked to host the 6th season of the show in Mauritius. Pearl moved on from LiveAmp to host Moment: South Africa, a talk show broadcasting on Ebonylife TV and the very popular Lip Sync Battle Africa on MTV and eTV; continental offerings of which she is very proud.

The multi-talented actress has starred in many local and international feature films including Scorpion King: Book of Souls, Kalushi, Tremors 5: Bloodlines as well as highly rated local production Rhythm City, Zone 14, SoulCity and Isidingo. One of her most notable achievements was being cast as Zimbabwean Harvard Law School graduate, Dayana Mampasi in American Series Quantico alongside Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra. Critics loved her in Catching Feelings with renowned South African filmmaker, Kagiso Lediga; the romantic comedy was streamed on Netflix.

2020 saw Pearl making her mark in the beauty world as she made history by being the first person on the continent to collaborate with international cosmetics giant MAC, following on the heels of collaborations with Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and trail-blazing drag queen RuPaul over the years.
They released two limited-edition make-up kits featuring products hand-picked by Pearl. Each is intended to capture a different side to the star’s personality.

Playing the lead in Queen Sono, Netflix’s first original African series, was a dream come true.

“I was part of the genesis of the series, I brought a seed to an incredible creator, an incredible writer and director, Kagiso Lediga. I went to him and explained what I was hoping to do going forward because I realized that I was skilled in doing stunt work as an actress and I wanted to do something that empowers young black women; like imagine having an action hero on the continent who is female and young,” states Pearl. “Telling stories like Queen Sono are very important because it shows African women in a different light but it also shows African people in a renewed and more authentic light for the rest of the world to see: how we act, what we actually look like, what we actually sound like and most importantly for Africans to take control of their own narrative.”

Queen Sono has been picked up for a second season. Pearl will start taping the new season of her MTV show “Behind The Story” this coming June.

AWARDS

▪ Nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting role at the SAFTAs for her role as Samkelisiwe on ZONE 14
▪ YOU Spectacular Most Stylish Female Celebrity and Best Female Host/Presenter
▪ Voted one of the Coolest Female Celebrities at the Sunday Times Generation Next Awards in 2015
▪ Selected as one of Glamour Magazine’s Most GLAMOURous Women
▪ Feather Awards once hailed her the Fag Hag of the Year
▪ Awarded Coolest Female Personality by the Sunday Times Generation Next Awards
▪ The Inaugural Rapid Lion Film Festival nominated her Best Actress for her captivating performance in Kalushi: The story of Solomon Mahlangu

“God himself breathed life into you. Don’t give anyone else the power to diminish the strength within you.” – Pearl Thusi

The 1st overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft from Stanford University, Chiney Ogwumike was the 2014 WNBA Rookie of the year and is a 2-Time WNBA All-Star (2014, 2018). As the top pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft, Chiney and her sister Nneka made history, joining Peyton and Eli Manning as the only siblings ever selected number one overall in a professional sports league. Chiney is the starting forward for the Los Angeles Sparks, and is the vice president of the WNBA Players Association (WNBPA).

In 2018, Chiney became a full-time multi-platform ESPN NBA Analyst, becoming one of the youngest national sports studio analysts and one of the only full-time professional athletes to currently hold a regular national sports media position. In her role, she makes regular appearances as an NBA studio analyst on SportsCenter, First Take, Get Up! and The Jump. Chiney originally joined ESPN in 2017 to co-anchor SportsCenter across Africa and work as a WNBA and NBA analyst in studio. As on-air talent, Chiney has worked as an analyst for ESPN and Pac-12 Network; analyst for NBATV; and co-host for studio shows such as ESPN’s First Take, Sports Nation, The Jump, and Pac-12 Network’s Sports Report.

The 6’4” forward and Cypress, Texas native of Nigerian descent graduated from Stanford University with an International Relations degree under the mentorship of Dr. Condoleezza Rice. Chiney led Stanford to three Final Fours while distinguishing herself in academics, earning multiple honors for her academic success, including being named the 2014 Capital One Academic All-American of the Year and the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Chiney and her sister Nneka have redefined the word “Nerd” through several music videos which they conceptualized and produced while at Stanford, celebrating the culture of the school in a movement entitled “Nerd Nation.”

At Stanford, Chiney was a three-time First Team All-American, two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year, three- time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, four-time All-Pac 12 First Team, and finalist for multiple national Player of the Year awards each of the last three seasons. The John R. Wooden Award winner and Pac-12’s all- time leading scorer and rebounder’s 26.1 points per game, 12.1 rebounds, 60.1% field-goal percentage, and 27 double-doubles made Chiney the only player in the country to rank in the NCAA’s top 10 in each of those categories. Chiney captured a gold medal with USA Basketball at the FIBA 3×3 World Championships in August 2012 and earned a gold medal with the USA Basketball World University Games team in 2011.

Chiney is passionate about giving back and empowering the next generation. Chiney spent the spring of 2013 studying abroad in Nigeria where she successfully raised $30,000 to build a basketball court for underprivileged youth in an effort to break down barriers for girls in sports and instill confidence in the next generation. Chiney and Nneka partnered with UNICEF in 2014 to raise almost $10,000 for girls’ education and empowerment in Nigeria. Chiney has made numerous trips to Africa with NBA Africa and other nonprofits to help launch youth engagement initiatives using basketball as a tool for development, including a 2017 trip to Rwanda with nonprofit Shooting Touch to celebrate International Women’s Day.