By Faith Nyambeki
Her character in the popular swahili telenovela ‘Selina’ has been misconstrued to represent her true self. Messina, a role played by Angie Magio, is a woman who will stop at nothing including killing to achieve her goals. Some have termed her the devil incarnate even when she’s off screen. Messina was the struggling mother who called the slums her home before she rose to infamy.
So who is the real Messina and why does she personify everything evil?
Here is her story as told by WoK.
Family
Away from the vile character she plays, Angie Magio is a loving mother. She is a resident of Mombasa but spends most of her time in Nairobi because of her tight production schedule. In a recent interview, Angie stated that her “children mean everything to me and I’ve never been away from them for this long.
It’s even harder during this lockdown period because I can’t visit them over the weekend like I used to. Of course, I call them every day but it’s not enough.”
Career
The actress kick started her career as an actress with a non-Governmental organization known as SAFE Pwani in 2002. Angie made her first appearance in ‘Kandanda’, a short film followed by other leading roles in SAFE Pwani performances.
According to the NGO website, Angie hoped “to train to train as a HIV counsellor over the next year”. S.A.F.E. Pwani tackles problems that affect residents of the coastal region through film. Some of these issues include: HIV/AIDS, Extremism, access to clean water and the destruction of the Environment.
Maza: Angie seems to thrive when playing a vile character. Her role in Maza is that of a woman who is consumed with jealousy that she turns her best friend into a cat and steals her life. For this, she earned a nomination in Kalasha 2018 for Best Actress.
The actress has admitted that she thrives in these kinds of roles: “I do these kinds of roles so well. I think they (villains) are my favourite roles to play.”
Selina: It was tough at first joining Selina since it was a big show and rivalled Maza. She credits directors of the show for assisting her to transition to her new role. She told Showmax of her new role back then:
“My biggest challenge when I joined Selina was learning to separate these two characters; I didn’t want it to look like I’d carried my Maza character, Kate, to Selina. There had to be a difference and the directors really helped me take off that pressure and pull off the role of Messina”