Things we didn’t know about Skeem Saam's Eric Macheru

Eric Macheru might be thriving on his role as Leeto Maputla on Skeem Saam as that set his booming career in the industry, however, the actor has never really imagined himself as an actor.

Speaking to Daily Sun it turns out acting was not his first love, the actor expressed that he initially wanted to become a soccer player.
“I wanted to play soccer, that’s what I wanted to do but then with playing soccer I was like, I need to study something.”

Like most people who have wanted to pursue sports but took the other route Eric then decided to study while playing soccer and says when he was in high school all he knew at the time was that he wanted to pursue anything in media.
Eric played for Ajax Cape Town after winning the Soccer Kings competition in 2005 the actor played for Ajax Cape Town, however that dream was short lived after he got an injury and had to step back from the dream. However according to reports found on Tshisa LIVE the actor revealed that he would still find a way to pursue soccer, saying:
“I am going to go back to football. I want to do some coaching courses and if not coaching, then some analysis”

Eric began his acting career at Skeem Saam while studying at AFDA.
“I wanted to study multimedia...anything that has to do with the media, whether it was journalism, acting, writing…the acting part was really truly speaking was never a part of the plan. I studied at AFDA, studied media, directing, writing in the arts...I’m guessing acting and all of these things was around my way while studying at AFDA”

The actors first gig was TV presenting and that’s what he had planned to pursue in the media industry.
“My first gig...I was a TV presenter, I did V-entertainment then started knowing about auditions...so I went to a couple of auditions and Skeem Saam was one of them”
Eric went on to add that he wanted to pursue presenting and was expecting to get gigs with big media houses.

“I wanted to get more presenting gigs, I was looking for LIVE Amp, MTV Base and all of those. At the time I wasn’t really feeling acting.”
The actor, however, says that he received an inbox telling him about the auditions which is now the reason why he is here today.
“I got to the casting and bombed out. Wack wack wack audition and I didn’t get it.”

The actor went on to add that he knew he needed to be a part of the Skeem Saam cast - as the storyline revolved around his hometown - he pleaded with the casting lady
“I called the casting lady and I literally begged for another chance...eventually they were like ‘come through’...I went and I killed it”
Reminiscing about his thoughts at the time the actor added...
“The fact that it’s a story based on home...it’s from my hometown ...I need to go and get this...It was close to home so I was like, I need to be a part of this”
Eric Macheru says that he is glad that he made that decision today, we look forward to seeing him find his way back to soccer and watch his acting career unfold.