Carolyn Steyn (Née Barkhuizen)

Place: Johannesburg

Born: 1960

Biography:

Carolyn Steyn is a South African media personality and founder of the non-profit organization, 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day. She holds an honours degree in Speech and Drama from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Teacher’s Licentiate in Speech and Drama qualification from the University of South Africa. Carolyn lived in the United States for ten years and in England for five. In Los Angeles, where she was pursuing an acting career, she studied at the Beverly Hills Playhouse for five years under acting coach, Milton Katselas, along with fellow students Kate Hudson, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeffrey Tambor, Tony Danza and Doris Roberts among others. She appeared on Melrose Place and Babylon 5 and also performed in numerous plays, including Private Lives , Shadowlands and Harold Pinter’s Betrayal . She served on the Los Angeles guild of the children’s mentorship organisation Big Sisters, and in 2004 was nominated as one of the ‘Most Exciting Women’ by the Beverly Hills Sheet . In South Africa, Carolyn performed for PACT (Performing Arts Company of the Transvaal) for many years, including a lead in the smash-hit, Poppie Nongena , which ran for a year to rave reviews, before hosting the Tongue in Cheek television talk show on SABC 3. Her extensive radio work includes Radio 5 (now 5FM) as a newsreader while co-hosting the weekend breakfast show with Martin Locke; she also worked ... In 2022, Carolyn Steyn received French Ordre national du Mérite.