Elné Pretorius

Elné Pretorius is a South African actress, singer-songwriter and film score composer. As actress she is known best for playing the part of Katherine Harkness in the South African Sci-Fi television series Room 9 (2012-2013), which aired in South Africa and in the United Kingdom. Her debut as professional actress was as the character Elizabeth Cilliers in an Afrikaans television drama called Hartland (2011). She made her professional theatre debut at the Aardklop National Arts Festival in South Africa when she played the part of Suzzi in the ensemble stage drama Aantrekkingskrag ("Attraction"), a role that was written for her by acclaimed Afrikaans playwright Deon Opperman. Her role in Oscar-nominated director Darrel Roodt's 13-part Sci-Fi series Room 9 followed a year later under the direction of John Barker (Spud 3) and Charlie Vundla (How to Steal Two Million), among others. Room 9 won two South African Film & Television Awards (SAFTA's) including Best Achievement in Scriptwriting and Best Achievement in Editing for a TV Dama. She has played supporting roles in a few Afrikaans films; these include the role of Sally in Lien se Lankstaanskoene (2013) and Denise in The Film Factory's kids movie Agent 2000 (2014). In 2015, she portrayed the role of "Annie" in The Star Gazers, a screen adaptation of Herman Charles Bosman's stories, which aired in the United States and won the Jury Prize for best picture at the FTMA film festival in the United States. She has been featured in multiple national and international commercials, including Coca-Cola's Share a Coke campaign (Russia, Belgium & the United Kingdom), Flight Centre (South Africa) and Granola (France). In 2016 she moved to New York to further her studies in acting at the New York Film Academy. In New York she lead the cast of "And Then They Fell" (a play by Tira Palmquist which deals with issues surrounding homelessness and abuse of members in the LGBTQ youth community) as the character Jordan Matthews. She co-founded Rock Paper Ginger, an exclusive entertainment company that specializes in pre-production, story, and intellectual property development in the animation and film industry through script-writing, story-boarding, character design, environment design, production design, and music composition. She has qualified as a film score composer through the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts (USA) and holds an Honors degree in Information Design through the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Her qualifications and expertise fuel her passion for each phase of the filmmaking process, making her a valuable asset on any film throughout pre-production, production and post-production.