Actors - Samantha Mumba

Home > Listing Index > Actors > Samantha Mumba

	Actors - Samantha Mumba

Samantha Tamania Anne Cecilia Mumba (born January 18 1983) is a Grammy-nominated Irish pop singer and actress. Her first album was released in 2000 to international success, although her latest single, released in 2002, was a failure, stalling her music career. She is also known as an actress, with her most notable role being the 2002 film, The Time Machine.

Biography

Early life

Mumba was born in Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland to Peter Mumba, a Zambian aircraft engineer and Barbara, an airhostess with Aer Lingus, who is Irish; she has a brother, Omero Mumba, who is an actor. Between the ages of 3 and 15, she was a student at Dublin's renowned Billie Barry Stage School. In 1998, she was cast as the lead in The Hot Mikado, a jazzy production based on Gilbert and Sullivan's opera. She also appeared in several Irish television shows, using the opportunity to be recognised as a singer.

Music career

At the age of 15, Mumba was discovered in a night club by Irish svengali Louis Walsh (manager of Boyzone and Westlife). Walsh was impressed by her talent and she was signed to Polydor Records, subsequently spending several months moving between Denmark, Sweden, England and Ireland, where she co-wrote and recorded her debut album, Gotta Tell You. She eventually dropped out of school to focus on her music career, citing that it was becoming a difficult task for her to stay in school and work on her music.

Mumba's first hit, Gotta Tell You, was released in 2000 and shot to the #1 spot on three Irish charts, later reaching #2 on the United Kingdom charts. She also scored American success with her debut single, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and being certified Platinum. Five more Top 10 hits followed in the UK and another top 50 hit in the US, leading some to call her the "black Britney Spears" of pop music, although she has rejected this title. To date, her album has sold over 4 million copies world-wide. Mumba was nominated for a 2002 Grammy award for her song Baby, Come Over (This is our night) in the 'best remixed recording, non-classical' category, but did not win.

In 2002, Mumba prepared to release her follow-up album, entitled "Woman", but with the poor sales of the lead single, "I'm Right Here", in both the US and UK, she was dropped from her label and the album was cancelled. In 2006, she collaborated with Filipino artist Jay-R on a new song, Just The Way You Are, which will be featured on his upcoming album, scheduled to be released later in the year.

Acting career

In 2002, Mumba switched from music to movies, starring in the American screen adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, in which she plays Mara, an 800th century tribeswoman. Her brother, Omero, appeared in the film, playing her brother.

In 2004, Mumba arrived to the premier of Spider Man 2 in London wearing a Spider Man-themed dress worth $9 million (£5 million), reportedly the most expensive dress ever made. The dress, designed by Scott Henshall, has a web-like design and is covered with 3,000 diamonds. She also wore £25 million worth of spider themed diamond jewellery.

In 2005, Mumba hit the headlines when Newbridge Silverware dropped her from their lucrative contract deal, as she was failing to wear their merchandise in public often enough. The model Yasmin Le Bon was subsequently chosen as the face of the jewellery firm.

Mumba appeared in two movies in 2005, Boy Eats Girl
and Johnny Was. She is currently working on a television show project that involves pulling stunts and pranks on unsuspecting people. One stunt, which was covered by the media, included her posing as a nun at the Ireland Presidential Convention.

Private life

Mumba is a passionate Arsenal supporter. She used to be a Spokeswoman for Hard Rock Cosmetics and is a UNICEF Ambassador

Featured Movies

2002 - The Time Machine
As Eloi woman Mara
2003 - Spin The Bottle
2005 - Boy Eat Girl As Jessica
2005 - Johnny Was As Rita
2006 - 3 Crosses

Discography

Albums

Additional Info

"Gotta Tell You" US certification 1x "Platinum". 4 Million copies sold world-wide.

Singles

Additional Info

"Don't Need You to (Tell Me I'm Pretty)" US Single Sales Chart #60
"Body II Body" and "Always Come Back To Your Love" not released in US.
"Don't Need You To (Tell Me I'm Pretty)" not released in UK.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Samantha Mumba ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Samantha Mumba; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay