NEW actress on the block, Wafariena Roslan, found stardom quite recently. She starred as the evil Nurul Ain, who goes to great lengths to break up a marriage for the sake of revenge, in the second season of the TV3 series 7 Hari Mencintaiku.
Her performance won the hearts of the audience, as well as earned her a nomination for Popular New Artist at the 33th Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian award show, which takes place today.
The 26-year-old actress admits she was a little worried that she would be typecast after her performance.
“I do not want to be stuck with one kind of role,” she says. “When you play a variety of roles, you can gain new experiences.”
Fortunately, she has not been stereotyped. She has been offered comedy roles, and has also played a ‘goody-two-shoes’ character.
“That does not mean I will stop playing negative roles in my career,” she says.
“I will look at the script as well as my role. Not all negative roles are the same.”
She started her acting career two years ago, as an extra in the movie Buntat directed by Sabri Yunos.
In 2019, she appeared as one of the leads in the horror tele film Kisah Seram Hostel directed by Feroz Kader.
She will next be seen in the TV drama Romantika 4 Malam 3 Hari under the direction of Nizam Zakaria, where once again her character will have some shades of grey.
Shooting for the drama has completed, and will likely be aired on television at end of the year.
She cites Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and Malaysia’s own Wan Maimunah as her favourite actors.
“They are very versatile actors and can play any kind of role that is given to them,” she says.
Going back to her past, she has dreamed of being an entertainer since she was young.
“I loved watching television shows,” she says.
“I remember telling my mother that it would be great for me to be on television and let the world watch me for a change. Of course, I was young and naive. I never thought my childhood dream would ever come true.”
The first time she watched herself onscreen in Kisah Seram Hostel a year ago, she cried tears of joy.
Interestingly she started her career as a singer first.
In 2017, she released her first single Carilah Aku. Now, she is keeping her eyes open for another good song to record as her second single.
In fact, she is currently participating in a reality singing competition, Vokal Mania.
She says: “I love singing and acting equally. For the moment, my acting career is flourishing more compared to my music career. But I will never abandon singing.”
When she is not working, she spends all her time with her parents and seven other siblings.
“I am very close to my mother and my mother is very protective of me,” she says.
“In the past, my mother used to follow me on set. She just wanted to make sure the working environment was safe for me.
“These days, she is older and gets tired easily. So, she will send my younger brother to follow me to my film shoot. My mother is my pillar of strength.”
She was born and raised in Penang. But last year, she brought her parents and her siblings to Kuala Lumpur.
“I miss my family very much whenever I am in Kuala Lumpur,” she says.
“I managed to convince them to move with me to Kuala Lumpur. Now, I miss Penang, and the food. Penang serves the best nasi kandar in the country.”
Like most entertainers these days, she has expressed a keen interest in starting a business venture. But with the pandemic, she feels now it is not right time to do so.
“Most businesses are finding it difficult to survive during this period,” she says.
“I do not want to be in that situation. I will launch my business plans after the pandemic is over.”
For the moment, she has no time for romance, and is putting all her focus on her career.
When asked what her dream guy will be like, she says: “The most important thing is the guy should trust me, and he should not be too jealous. Trust is an important factor for a relationship to survive.”
The second important quality her dream guy should have is the ability to love her mother and her family, the way he loves his own mother and his family.
She says: “My family is important to me. In return, I will also love his family and his mother like I love my own family and my own mother.”
