Established South African model and actress, Tanit Phoenix; international model, Charlbi Dean Kriek; and rising acting talent, Alex McGregor have won the key roles of Eve; Amanda; and Christine in Spud: The Movie.

Phoenix, who has already shared the screen with Nicholas Cage and Jared Leto (Lord of War) and Wesley Snipes (Gallowwalker), landed the role of the school’s sexy music teacher, Eve, who shares some intimate moments with Crazy 8 member, Rambo. Having signed up with ICE Model Management at just 15, Tanit’s stunning looks have landed her campaigns and photo shoots in Paris; London; Amsterdam; New York; Miami; and Los Angeles. Her first screen role came in 2004’s Charlie Jade, before she hit the big screen in local film, Crazy Monkey: Straight Outta Benoni. The South African edition of FHM named her on it’s 100 Sexiest Women list. Tanit has also frequently appeared on the covers of FHM; Cosmopolitan; Shape; GQ; Marie Claire; and Maxim magazines worldwide. More than 20 of the commercials she has appeared in are international, including a Volvic commercial, in which she pole danced for a group of prehistoric men; her Aqua Minerale commercial playing a Nordic warrior; as well as a visually-stunning Transitions eyeglasses commercial that showed off the flora and fauna of her native South Africa.
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Charlbi Dean Kriek will play one of Spud’s love interests, the feisty Amanda. Fascinated with acting from a young age, Charlbi enrolled in Cape Town’s Waterfront Theatre School to follow her dream. Spotted by a model scout at around the same time as her acting training began, and offered the opportunity to head to Tokyo to model aged just 14, Charlbi put acting on hold and pursued a career in the world’s fashion pages. Having spent three years jetting between New York; Paris; Milan; and London, she rediscovered her passion for acting and enrolled at The Screen Actors’ Studio in 2007. A serious car accident in 2008 put her modeling and acting career on hold and gave her time to consider her future while she recovered. Charlbi decided that her future lay in acting and Spud: The Movie is her first big feature film. Both Charlbi and Tanit are signed to Cape Town-based Steffi Freier Talent, the acting division of ICE Models.

Rising star, Alex McGregor, already has an impressive acting resume, encompassing work on stage and screen in TV series; movies; and commercials. Having decided that she wasn’t right for the part of Amanda and too young to play Eve, Spud producers, Brad Logan and Ross Garland, knew they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have this talented young model and actress play a part in Spud and offered her the role of man-eating tomboy, Christine. The multi-talented Capetonian, part of the McGregor clan which includes superstar models, Kerry and Tracy, also models; acts; sings; dances; and plays the piano.

About the Novel and Film

Spud is set in South Africa in 1990 and chronicles John 'Spud' Milton’s first year at an elite, boys-only private school. Cursed with parents from well beyond the lunatic fringe; a senile granny; and a dormitory full of strange characters, Spud has to forge a new life for himself in this foreign and sometimes hostile environment. Surrounded by names such as Gecko; Rambo; Rain Man; and Mad Dog, Spud takes his first tentative steps along the path towards manhood. (The path, it seems, could be a rather long road.) Armed with only his wits and his diary, Spud takes us from illegal nightswimming to the cricket field, from ghostbusting to teacher baiting. He also invites us into the mind of a boy struggling to come to terms with a strange new world, a boy whose eyes are being opened to love; friendship; and complete insanity.

Spud: The Movie is produced by Rogue Star Films and BLM Productions.