Mitzi Booysen is a South African actress, playwright, translator, and television writer. Born in Rome, she lived in several countries during her childhood due to her father’s diplomatic career. She completed her schooling at Pretoria High School for Girls and studied Drama at the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Pretoria. After graduating, Booysen built a substantial theatre career, performing for PACT, PACOFS, and CAPAB, and appearing at venues such as The Space, The Baxter Theatre, and The Market Theatre. Her stage credits include Agter Geslote Deure, Die Oresteia-Trilogie, Playing with Fire, Comrades, The Balcony, Macbeth, Drie Susters, The Great Gatsby, and Die Eend (Soekie). She also worked as an assistant director on Women of Troy (1987) and was active as a translator and adaptor of international plays, including works by Bernard-Marie Koltès, Frank Wedekind (Frühlings Erwachen / Bloeiende Lente), and Alan Ayckbourn. As a playwright, she wrote Ashes on Our Heads and The Time of the Hyena, receiving the 1987 Johannesburg Repertory Players DALRO Award for her role as Liz in Ashes on Our Heads. Beyond theatre, Booysen made a major contribution to South African television drama. She became the creative head of Endemol South Africa, served as chief writer on Isidingo from 1998, and later worked as storyline writer on Binnelanders from 2005.