In December 2019, Netflix premiered "The Witcher" and although not highly acclaimed in terms of its acting, the show captured audiences with it's storytelling. It was not widely known then that a prominent member of the cast was of Zimbabwean heritage. The show's second season was recently released and it debuted at No. 1, with audiences spending a whopping 142.4 million hours watching it in it's first 3 days and this has been up to the performances of supporting actors like the British-Zimbabwean Mimi Khayisa (formerly Ndiweni).
Image: Netflix
Mimi Khayisa plays Fringilla Vigo who is a Nilfgaardian sorceress and Artorius Vigo's niece, who was a master illusionist and inspired Fringilla to follow the same path. She has an antagonistic relationship with Yennefer a fellow sorceress and the female lead in the show played by Anya Chalotra.
The Witcher is a fantasy drama television series created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, based on the book series of the same name by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. Set on a fictional, medieval-inspired landmass known as "the Continent", The Witcher explores the legend of Geralt of Rivia and Princess Ciri, who are linked to each other by destiny.
Mimî Michelle Ndiweni (born 31 August 1991), since 2021 credited as Mimî M. Khayisa, is a British-Zimbabwean actress. She is best known for playing Fringilla Vigo in Netflix's The Witcher, Tilly Brockless in the television series Mr Selfridge, and Ester/Jekasai in the stage production of The Convert at The Gate Theatre in London. She has also appeared on film in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Cinderella and The Legend of Tarzan.
She won the Spotlight Prize in 2013 and went on to work for the Royal Shakespeare Company after graduating from Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Khayisa was also featured as One to Watch by the Independent in 2013, and was on the Evening Standard's Stars of 2015 list after performing in the RSC's Midsummer Mischief Festival.
Khayisa grew up in Guildford, Surrey and started acting as a teenager, joining the Yvonne Arnaud Mill Street Studios while she was in secondary school. From there she went on to complete a degree at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff.
Khayisa was born in England; her father is from Ntabazinduna in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe and is the eldest son of Chief Kayisa Ndiweni, while her mother was from South Africa and was the daughter of Reverend Geoffrey Bizeni Mkwanazi, the founder of Assemblies of God in South Africa. Her mother died at the age of thirty-seven.
Khayisa has stated that theatre is her first love, and was taken on by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2013 after graduating from Royal Welsh. Her first appearance in a major film was as the Slipper Lady in Disney's Cinderella in 2015. She then played Eshe in The Legend of Tarzan in 2016, starring alongside Margot Robbie. In 2016 Khayisa played Tilly Brockless in Mr Selfridge for eight episodes of the last season, and in May 2017 played the part of Abby in the Doctor Who episode "Oxygen" during its tenth series.
In October 2018 Netflix announced that Khayisa would be playing the part of Fringilla Vigo in The Witcher. The series is set to come back for a 3rd season.
(Source: Wikipedia)