Grammy Award ballot-nominee Makeda Tene’ is an actress, singer, musician, dancer, and the author of My Kid Wants to Be an Actor!? Now What?

 

Known as Makeda Tene' in the performance world, her writing focuses on helping parents and children navigate the complex world of children in the acting business.

 

Makeda has a unique perspective on the acting industry. She has a BFA in Acting from Marymount Manhattan College in New York City and an MA in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles. These two angles allow her to understand and assist fellow performers as they find their way in the entertainment industry and also allow her greater insight into her own performance style.

 

It is this specific cocktail of education, as well as her experience in the industry, that has enabled Makeda to build a successful acting career for her son. Along the way, she has worked with countless other children, proving instrumental in their career progression as they landed professional agents and managers.

 

Makeda regularly finds herself on set with parents, who, despite having children in the industry, are filled with questions about the acting business. The combination of her own career path and experience helping her son build his acting career enables her to answer the questions they seem to struggle to find answers to, and she’s eager and excited to share this advice with a wider audience.

 

Makeda has several notable performances under her belt, including her original one-woman show, Love-in Concert, which has sold out in Los Angeles and other parts of the United States. Makeda’s son, Innocent Onanovie Ekakite, plays Leo in the popular Netflix film series Ivy + Bean.