Irish singing star Samantha Mumba is following in the footsteps of her pal Britney Spears, with her first foray on to the big screen set to debut this year. The Dublin-born beauty stars in The Time Machine alongside Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons, and she recently talked about the unusual way she was discovered for the role.
“The way I got picked for the part was really eerie, though, almost too easy,” says the 18-year-old. In a stroke of luck, a casting agent for the film saw Samantha’s photo in an American magazine and immediately contacted the young star to recruit her for the DreamWorks project. “They’d been looking for someone to fill the role for a couple of months and I fitted what they were looking for,” she says.
In addition to launching her film career, Samantha also signed a new five-album deal in 2001. “So many amazing things happened in the last year, especially the success of the album in the states,” she says. “The whole year flew by so quickly that it’s pretty much gone over my head.”
Despite her packed schedule, the rapidly rising star has been sure not to neglect her private life – though she’s hesitant to discuss the details. “I have somebody special and I’m happy,” she says. “But I don’t want to spread it around all over the place who he is. It’s hard enough to keep a relationship going, never mind it being in the public eye, which is a nightmare.” She does, however, reveal: “My boyfriend is someone who is not well known. He’s someone who is just normal.”
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
