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Most girls dream of becoming their favorite Disney princess. Thembelihle Cele dreamed and became a queen. The South African-raised and Las Vegas-based performer stars as Nala in the Tony Award-winning musical Disney’s The Lion King—and the experience could not feel any closer to home.
“If you were to watch the migration of the wildebeest, it looks exactly like the stampede in Lion King. So many parts of my life and things that I’ve seen growing up in South Africa … [are] being depicted on a stage for entertainment purposes. It’s unreal,” says Cele. “Watching how Disney has portrayed that so authentically in this production, it makes me really proud to be a part of this.”
Before The Lion King lands at the Smith Center on November 19, Cele spoke with the Weekly about her African upbringing, the Circle of Life and her obsession with Formula 1.
I hear you’re a big Formula 1 fan. How did you get into it?
I’ve always been a fan of motorsport. I grew up around it but not paying attention to it, and it wasn’t until one of my friends was talking about watching [Netflix series] Drive to Survive that I really got it for real. It all came back. I just remembered why I loved it so much. My dad, my brother and I just love cars so much that it was always a natural progression. I just always loved it.
Have you had a chance to check out a race since it’s been here in Vegas?
No, I’ve not been in Las Vegas during the Grand Prix since it came back two years ago. But we’re gonna be there in Vegas this year, and I’m hoping that I can go.
Who are your favorite drivers?
My two favorite drivers of all time are Aryton Senna and Lewis Hamilton, and Carlos Sainz [Jr.]. Those are my top three.
I’m a Lewis fan, a Charles Leclerc fan and probably Lando Norris.
Lando’s leading the championship right now. That’s exciting.
What keeps you coming back? Is it the adrenaline? The driver drama? The radio chatter?
All of it. But I feel like the one parallel I can draw to my own life as a performer and technically an athlete is the discipline that goes into it, the drive that goes into it and how much training goes into it. Up until the documentaries and the movies, a lot of people didn’t get to see the behind the scenes of everything—the training, the tears, the sweat. I feel like, in a way, that’s what preparing to step onto the stage feels like. Whether it’s for the first time or whether you’ve been with the show for a long time, there’s a lot of maintenance that goes into that.
With [former pro racing driver] Susie Wolff starting the Formula 1 Academy and shining the spotlight on women in motorsport as well ... it’s something that I never felt like I could do, and it’s such a courageous thing. It feels almost like standing in front of an audience of 3,500 people every night.
I was really excited to find out how many women are invested in F1. It’s nice to hear stories like yours. The sport itself transcends a lot of stereotypes.
Absolutely, and for me personally, especially playing Nala in the show, I remember coming into the role and thinking about how much of myself I get to bring into that. Just knowing that I come from a very small part of South Africa where I knew I wanted to do this, but I didn’t know the when and the how. And just putting my head down and doing the work. I look up to Susie Wolff a lot because she was the first woman to actually test in a single-seater series for Williams Racing. Seeing how she’s leading the charge, it feels like that, playing Nala. It’s a very brave thing to do in such a male-dominated industry. But I feel the same way playing Nala. She makes me brave.
So, if you weren’t playing Nala, you’d consider a career as an F1 driver?
Absolutely. And now that I know that it is within reach … I mean, at this age, maybe not as a driver and maybe not at that level, but if I knew what I know now, I probably would have figured out how to bring those two worlds together for myself to make both those dreams come true. I would absolutely love to get behind the wheel. I know that there’s a Grand Prix Plaza now in Vegas, which is closed right now because they’re prepping for the Grand Prix, but I absolutely would.
Being from South Africa, how has it been stepping into the role of Nala, knowing that you’re bringing that authenticity to the story of The Lion King?
I know there’s been South Africans who have come before me in this show who are really the reason why I’m here. But for me, it just feels like, wow. South Africa is worthy of being put on the world stage and knowing that a lot of the text and the music in the show is in my native language, and being able to present that at this level, it really feels like the Olympics [laughs]. It really is a “pinch me” moment every day, and it’s something that I feel very honored to be able to do and to portray on these renowned stages.
It’s always so humbling and so surreal to walk through some of these halls of these theaters … and knowing that we’re playing venues that icons and legends have played. So, for me to be able to represent my country, my culture, my language and to represent so many people, some of whom have not even made it here yet, it feels almost like a calling that is a lot bigger than me.
Is there a particular moment in the show you always look forward to, or you’re excited for the audience to experience?
My favorite part of the show is a scene called Grasslands. It is a scene where Mufasa teaches young Simba about the Circle of Life, and you see the African savannah, the landscape and the ensemble of the production. They come onto the stage wearing these beautiful grass skirts and these huge trays of grass over their heads, and they are a depiction of the great Circle of Life. You see gazelles leaping across the landscape and guinea fowl, and then you see the buzzards flying overhead. The audience really gets to see a visual of how when we die, we become the grass, and the antelopes eat the grass. And the lions, because we’re also animals on that stage, we eat the gazelles that are leaping on the grass. The whole time, there’s this beautiful underscoring of a chant that we share a lot in “Circle of Life.” It’s "ingonyama nengw’ enamabala," which means “the lion and the leopard with its spots.” It’s such a powerful moment in the show. It’s just so beautiful and so vibrant, and it’s so grounded, because everybody is just standing there, looking regal, and the underscoring is so rich.
The Lion King is one of my favorite Disney stories for that immense amount of storytelling and how beautifully it celebrates African culture, the animals, nature, the royalty.
It really is. Our director, Julie Taymor, did this beautiful thing … called The Double Event, which was very intentional. During all of the puppetry and all of the animation, you get to see the actors, you get to see the puppeteers. You see the puppet, and you know what animal they’re portraying. But you also get to see the human side of it as well, and that’s why it makes the story so beautiful and so easy to take in.
South Africa just sounds so beautiful. What made you want to call Vegas home?
I remember we were back in Las Vegas with the tour—around this time of year, actually, around Thanksgiving in 2018. At that time, I got to see a lot of shows on the Strip, and I remember my husband was also in the show with me. I remember sitting down with him and saying, of all the cities that I’ve been to, especially because of the nature of the work that we do and the life that we live, I can absolutely see Las Vegas become home for us for that reason. A lot of people who do what we do typically want to go to New York and to be on Broadway. But there was something about the richness of the culture of Las Vegas and just how daring the city is, and honestly, even seeing the city bounce back post-pandemic. … There’s just something so resilient about the city and something so sure about Las Vegas that made me want to be a part of it.
DISNEY’S THE LION KING Select dates Nov. 19-30, times vary, $40-$218. Reynolds Hall, thesmithcenter.com.
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