Martha Katana, born Monica Wairimu Thang’a is a Kenyan actress who has impressed many film lovers with her exceptional acting skills. Katana has risen to fame following her role in the popular show dubbed “Becky” premiering every Monday to Friday on Citizen TV.
Even though she has been part of other films in Kenya such as Igiza, Beba Beba, and others Katana has established her name in the film industry through Becky. In the role, she acts as a typical protective African mother who is ready to risk it all for her kids.
In our feature, we tell the story of Monica Wairimu known by her stage name Martha Katana or Mama Junior. The transformation from teaching to gracing our screens.
Martha Katana Age and Place of Birth
Katana was born and raised in Nairobi County but details about her actual date of birth is still unclear.
Educational Background
Katana has managed to keep her life persornal life away from public eyes and very little known is about her education background.
Career
Growing up she always wanted to be on the screen not as an actress but as a presenter. However, according to her during those days some careers were questionable by parents and even the chances of securing job was limited since only one TV station was active.
Her journey in acting began 20 years ago coming into television by “luck” as she says, since her friend mentioned her in a room with an opportunity. According to her, the friend was contacted to attend an audition for a certain role but instead passed the audition to Martha.
After the auditions she was lucky enough to get a role and she was featured in a film dubbed “Beba Beba”. Following her impressive acting skills on Beba Beba show, she earned numerous roles in different films both locally and internationally, working with big brands suchs as DSTV and Emnet.
Despite being a veteran actress, she doesn’t treat acting as a full time job and she does it as a part time job since the film industry doesn’t pay much for her to recognize it as a full time job.
Despite working in different projects, her name came to limelight when she earned a role in a TV series dubbed “Becky.” In the film she is featured as a harsh and protective mother, a character that most people related with thus bringing a sense of reality to the show.
According to Mama Junior as she is well known, her character and real life are two different lifestyle as she is even shy sometimes, a very rare feeling in her roles. Currently Becky is one of the biggest local series premiering on Citizen TV, a giant TV station that has a massive viewing country wide. The show airs every Monday to Friday.
Teaching Career
Once the cameras goes off she goes back to teaching handling kindergarten where she handles kids from 16 months all the way to six years. As much as she loves acting, teaching will always remain her number one priority as she finds a special bonds with children and she can’t do anything that can interfere with her classes.
According to her before picking any role she always checks the shooting schedules and over she has managed to balance the two perfectly without messing any of the two.
Martha Katana Salary and Net Worth
Film in Kenya doesn’t pay that much as most lead actors earns between Ksh 7k-10k per episode and the trend takes the down side for the other actors. But having two jobs at once means her earning ranges from Ksh 200k to 300k. Her net worth is estimated to be over Ksh 500k.