‘Trompoppie’ breakout star Luca Human opens up about her role

As Elke in Trompoppie, 14-year-old Luca Human has been a revelation.

Luca is the daughter of beloved Afrikaans actress Margit Meyer-Rödenbeck, aka Dowwe Dolla, and Trompoppie’s SAFTA- and Silwerskerm-winning writer and director Etienne Fourie is already hailing her as, “an absolute superstar. Her future is blindingly bright.”

LUCA ON HER ROLE AS ELKE IN ‘TROMPOPPIE’

Speaking about her involvement in Trompoppie, she said: “I absolutely loved Etienne’s script. Out of all the Afrikaans TV series, I’ve never seen anything like this. It was just so cool to me. The storyline is so creative and it’s captivating; it keeps you on your toes.”

Luca shared that Elke is the younger sister of Zanne Peterson, who is the lead trompoppie.

“She was also adopted, like Zanne. Her parents do not understand her. Her mother is obsessed with Zanne and pays much more attention to Zanne, so she feels excluded and feels as if her mother no longer cares about her. So she resonates much more with her father.”

Asked what she relates to in the story, Luca said: “The peer pressure that occurs between the trompoppies is something that I can identify with. Luna is put under an awful lot of pressure by the trompoppies because she is new and someone from a different background and not rich like them. I am also in a private school so this is something I see a lot, which is very sad.”

Luca added that she could also relate to how Elke is not sure of herself at all.

“She is so insecure and she is very good at hiding it. I see that a lot too: children who are good at putting a smile on their faces but they are actually really struggling. I also have that problem sometimes, so that’s something I can personally identify with.”

TAKEAWAY MESSAGE

The actress discribes the Trompoppie storyline as “captivating”.

“If you have watched one episode, I don’t think you will be able to stop watching, because there are such big plot twists, that you just want to keep watching and watching and watching. The storyline is captivating and the characters are so realistic: I think everyone knows a Jill in their life”.

According to Luca, there are two takeaway messages on the series.

“I think the viewers can take two things away. Number one, people aren’t always who they say they are. And secondly, Jill, my mom, didn’t pay much attention to who I was, so moms and dads, please watch what your children are doing. They love you very much but sometimes they just can’t show it and they feel very alone.”