WHEN the trio super girls of the all-female De Fam group are not performing on stage or making music, they turn to acting.
Azira Shafinaz Ramlan, 26, Nurshazwani Samsudin a.k.a. Cik Manggis, 28, and Sophiatul Liana Mohamed Sobri a.k.a Sophia Liana, 27, ventured into acting about two years ago. Each of them has starred in several television series.
Cik Manggis starred in the series Eksperimen Cinta on TV3
in 2015, while Azira landed roles in shows like Stella on TV9, Married Tapi Benci and Mr Donut Karamel on TV3 last year. As for Sophia, she joined Azira in Mr Donut Karamel, as a supporting character.
However, this time around, the girls are cast together in TV3’s upcoming drama series, Villa Ghazara, slated to air in September.
Villa Ghazara is a 40-episode drama which centres around the life of Dr Ghaz (played by Mustapha Kamal), his wife, Zara (Haleeda Mazlin), and their five problematic sons, played by Hafeez Mikail, Aidil Aziz, Amirul Faqeem, Syed Aiman and Shukri Yahaya.
“I play the heroine, Ariana, who is a teacher, while Sophia plays Hani, the love interest of one of Dr Ghaz’s son.
“Manggis plays Mastura, my on-screen best friend,” Azira told the New Straits Times recently.
Given how Azira and Manggis are already besties in real life, building chemistry on-camera is a breeze for the duo.
“It’s fun to venture into something together besides music,” said Manggis, adding that they were currently filming the series.
While acting together in a drama series was never in their plans, Azira figured that this would be better for De Fam as they would gain more exposure as a group.
“Initially, the producers only called me in for the lead role. But since they were still scouting for talents to fill in the supporting roles, I suggested that they consider taking in Sophia and Manggis.
“Fortunately, they both aced their auditions and received the green light to star in the drama,” said Azira.
“I think De Fam can stand on its own in the local music scene, but acting allows us to gain fans and followers on a higher scale,” Sophia added.
The trio is also in the midst of recording their next EP, set to be released by year-end or early next year.