SA actress on a wild ride in 'The Penguin'

MARIE BOTHA: BOEREMEISIE’ HITS BIG TIME-AND LOVES IT

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The fourth episode of The Penguin is now on Showmax (and on M-Net at 9pm today), taking a break from Oz Cobb (Oscar nominee Colin Farrell) to focus on the origin story of Sofia Falcone (Critics Choice Super Award winner Cristin Milioti) and why she's known as The Hangman.

Hailing The Batman spinoff for "the best episode of The Penguin yet," Esquire said: "Episode 4 just proved this is one of the year's best shows. Cristin Milioti went ahead and vaulted this series and herself Emmy conversation." into the IMDb agrees, with Episode 4 getting a series' best 9.6/10 rating pushing The Penguin into the 100 top-rated series of all time.

Opposite Milioti, look out for South African actress Marié Botha as Magpie in the Arkham Asylum flashbacks.

Botha was born in Pretoria and grew up in Joburg's northern suburbs. She left South Africa at the age of 18 to chase her dream studying acting at New York University's respected Tisch School of the Arts.

After earning her BFA degree with honours, she enrolled in the masters programme at Yale School of Drama, as one of only 17 students in her class selected from thousands.

Once she had the MFA under her belt, Botha started building her life as a working actress in New York, where she has now lived for 14 years.

It has been a varied tapestry of Off-Broadway and regional theatre productions, indie films, commercial voice-over work and countless auditions. She also came home briefly to play in the TV series Erfsondes in 2012.

We caught up with the rising star:

Teo Nell us more about your role in 'The Penguin'?