Marie Claire South Africa — January 2018

local celebrity

JAN/FEB 2018 MARIECLAIRE.CO.ZA 41

PLAYING

pretend

WORDSEDWAIN STEENKAMPPHOTOGRAPHSANDY LUND

t seems Julia Anastasopoulos was destined to

play pretend. ‘I spent a lot of my childhood

in my imagination. I was always playing

imaginary games and taking part in make-

believe stories,’ she tells me. We’re at

Sketchbook Studios, in Cape Town, which Julia owns

with her husband, Ari Kruger. It looks exactly the

way you’d expect it to – imagination made manifest.

Julia is surrounded by sequins, ribbons, props

and bold, bright furniture, but is dressed in a

simple black T-shirt and jeans, bare-faced, with

her blonde locks tied up in a messy bun. Despite

playing her characters on YouTube and Instagram

so convincingly, in real life she is nothing like either

of them. She’s soft-spoken, almost reserved, as she

makes a round of coffees in the studio kitchen.

It’s impressive how much Julia and Ari have

achieved together in a handful of years, from

a short video they thought wouldn’t amount to

anything, to creating one of South Africa’s best-loved

entertainment personalities. Listening to Julia, I can’t

help but appreciate the carefully considered and

intellectual way she approaches her craft, and how

she’s mastered her comedy.

‘Suzelle has been able to bring so many people

together, across cultures and from all walks of life;

her audience is both huge and varied,’ Julia says.

‘I think this has a lot to do with the fact that she is

neither political nor sexual. Because of this, South

Africans find immense relief in her comedy.’

Similarly, Julia’s new character, Tali Babes, speaks

to everyone. Tali is a Jozi-born girl who has recently

relocated to Cape Town. Her (mis)adventures in the

Mother City are hilarious. Her wedding-planning

mockumentary, Tali’s Wedding Diary, premiered on

ShowMax in December and is the start of a whole