By Collins Omondi
When talking of telenovelas in Kenya, Selina ranks among the top five. The script is captivating drawing millions of viewers as they follow the life of the disadvantaged young woman from a humble background. Selina’s stepmother, Kristina, puts a halt to her education by trading her to the Mackenzies to work as a househelps. It’s at this home that she falls in love with Tokodi, who is swept by her beauty and intellect. So who is Selina? Here is what this writer was able to gather.
Real Name and Age
Selina’s real name is Celestine Gachuhi. She is 24 years old (born in 1997).
Family
Celestine Gachuhi’s mother passed away in 2006 when she was only 9 years old. Her father remarried in 2007 and according to the actress’s account, the stepmother was not the best. She is the second born in a family of four-two girls and one boy. Her father is a senior sergeant.
Education
She was a student at Ole Tipis High School. Celestine is currently pursuing a Diploma in Project Planning at the Kenya Institute of Management Studies.
Early Life
Her love for acting began at a pretty young age. While at Ole Tipis High School, Celestine participated in drama festivals that allowed her to hone her acting skills. After form four, she joined Jicho Four Productions-an acting group that stages set books. She went on to join Pace Theatres who were looking for a female character. She told BusinessTimes of her move from Jicho Four:
“The description fitted me. I rehearsed for two weeks before appearing on stage. My first show was scary, but I managed. By the fifth show, I had gained confidence and no one could notice that I was new…”
In 2015 and after six months staging set books, the actress called it quits to try her hand in something else that would earn her money to further her studies. She took up employment as a salonist for five months. She continued auditioning in the hopes that a door would open.
Door Opens
Persistence paid off in a big way when she eventually got a call while working in the salon inviting her to do skits and motivational speaking. Ms Gachuhi met pioneers in the industry like Papa Shirandula, Machachari’s Mama Mercy and Mama Stella. She admits learning a lot from the established actors.
The actress made her debut on TV later that year courtesy of a friend she had met during the auditions. She played Waceke in a Gikuyu play-Gwa Cibu (At the chief’s) before taking another role in Uriru wa wendo (Wonders of love) as Stess.
Selina Role
It’s while playing Stess that she heard about Selina. The actress told BT that she was not really interested and only auditioned after a friend impressed on her to give it a try:
“The first time I ignored. The second time, one of my cousins tagged me but I ignored. The third time, a friend we had worked with in Uriru called me and told me that they had done auditions but they had not found Selina. I decided to give it a try…”
“I did not want to tell the director that I was going for auditions, but at the same time I didn’t want to lie. I just told him that I had something important to attend to.”
The actress said she quickly identified with Selina as she had been brought up in an almost similar family set-up. Her stepmother-just like in Selina’s case-was abusive.
Music
Away from acting, Ms Gachuhi is a musician. She released Nena Nami featuring Phil Kimemia that has garnered over 70,000 views since its release.
Pregnancy
The actress pregnancy threatens to bring the popular Swahili telenovela series to an end. According to reports on local media, the lead actress pregnancy is in its second trimester.
“She was supposed to be at the shoot yesterday (Tuesday), the entire crew was there but she is the only one who didn’t show up. With her absence the shoot couldn’t continue as she is the lead character and everything is about her,” Nairobinews reported.
According to the online news outlet, the producers are in a state of confusion on how to best circumnavigate the situation they find themselves in.
