Triple threat:
Kenyan actors calling the
shots behind the scenes
Triple threat is no longer the term used to refer to celebrities who dance, sing and act— it is what we like to call actors who direct, produce, and / or write their own stories. There is an increasing number of Kenyan actors who are taking their chances on the other side of the camera. From directing, producing, script writing and casting, these guys are unstoppable.
In this article, Filamu Kenya highlights five award-winning actors, who have turned into directors and producers and are doing just as great a job.
Gerald Langiri
Actor / Casting Director
When you talk about growth in Kenya’ s TV and film industry, Langiri is the perfect paragon of the word. He has grown from a little-known talent to one of the seasoned and most soughtafter actors in Kenya with an admirable acting portfolio.
Better still, he has flexed his muscles in the world of casting and has churned out to be one of the best local casting directors and has even gone ahead to produce a hilarious web comedy series called Shit Happens.
So how did Gerald Langiri discover his other talent as casting director?
“ Casting kind of came by default due to the large number of requests I used to get from producers who wanted actors from my website actors. co. ke. I had actors’ profiles on the website and producers found it easy to just browse through and get in touch with an actor. I was then approached by a Dutch director who wanted Kenyan actors for a project and that pushed me to learn how to do casting,” Langiri said.
Some of the TV series and films he has casted include; Selina, which launched recently on Maisha Magic, Veve( One Fine Day Films), Going Bongo( Ronalds Brothers Film), Top Actor Africa( BET) just to mention a few.
Martin Githinji
Actor / Writer / Director
He was recently feted as Best Actor in a TV Drama in Kalasha Awards 2017
B y W i n n i e K a b i n t i e
and he too just like Langiri, started from the bottom all the way up.
Talk about a versatile actor in Kenya’ s TV and film industry and Martin Githinji’ s name will pop. If he is not acting in a TV drama, he is featuring in a TV commercial, writing a script or directing. If he tells you he comes as a package, well, he is definitely not bluffing;
“ I realized I had an eye for storytelling. I am a planner and a detailed executioner,” said Martin Githinji alias Daddie Marto.
Well, unfortunately in Kenya’ s film industry being a brand has its own challenges and especially when it comes to getting jobs as revealed by Langiri, sentiments that Githinji echoed as producers will write off some talents in the name of“ they are too experienced for little money”.
“ I have missed jobs because am too expensive as an actor, writer, director,” Githinji reveals.
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