Anita Wawuda did not audition for the role that changed everything. She walked into the room for a different part entirely, got called back, and heard four words that stopped her in her tracks: we want you for Nimo. What followed was the role she had been waiting for without knowing it had a name.
Nimo is an undercover DCI officer at the centre of Mizani, the crime drama now streaming on Maisha Magic Plus and Showmax. She is recruited by a governor to dismantle a syndicate operating in his jurisdiction, and her primary target is a man named Solo, played by Jack Mutinda. To get close, she pretends to fall in love with him. Everything is strategy. Nothing is personal. And the pressure never lets up.
The Role She Was Born to Play
Anita describes herself as calm and collected off screen, a marketer by training who found her way into acting and never looked back. But ask her about playing a law enforcement officer and the composure gives way to something closer to joy.
“I’ve always dreamed of playing a cop,” she said. “In another life, I swear I’d be a DCI agent. So when they told me Nimo was a cop, I was all in. No hesitation. No fear. Just pure excitement.”
The audition itself came as a surprise. She had arrived to read for a completely different character before the casting team redirected her. The callback came and she nearly screamed.
A New Dynamic With a Familiar Co-star
Mizani reunites Anita with Keith Chuaga, her co-star from Jiji, where he played her husband. This is their third project together, but the dynamic has shifted completely. In Mizani, Keith plays her superior officer. She reports to him. There is no warmth, no softness and no room for the chemistry that defined their earlier work together.
“It felt weird at first,” she admitted. “I kept thinking, wait, aren’t you supposed to hug me? But we quickly found our rhythm, and the transformation worked beautifully on screen.”
Preparation: Research, Weapons Training and Crime Binges
Anita took the role seriously from the beginning. She studied how female DCI officers and FBI agents carry themselves, their posture, their speech, the way they dress and move under pressure. She watched crime dramas in bulk and spoke directly to contacts working in Kenya’s DCI to understand the mindset behind the badge.
The weapons work came with its own preparation. She had prior training in gun handling, which made the stunt sequences with Jack Mutinda feel less like performance and more like second nature. “I have some knowledge on how to hold a weapon, how to take out a magazine, fill it up with bullets and all that,” she said. “So at least I had a foundation to build on.”
The Scenes That Made Her Feel Unstoppable
Her standout moments in the series arrive when Nimo finally drops the cover. The badge comes out, the undercover persona falls away, and she steps fully into DCI mode — official suit, weapon, authority.
“Those moments made me feel unstoppable,” she said.
A Long-Standing Creative Partnership
Anita’s relationship with director Daudi stretches back several projects, including a short film called White Doom where she looked, by her own description, completely different. She credits his work ethic as one of the reasons she keeps showing up.
“I have seen his grind, his hustle, his sacrifices and I deeply admire his work ethic,” she said. “Anytime Daudi calls me for an audition, I show up. No excuses.”
Off Screen: Mombasa Roots, Nairobi Life
Anita grew up on the coast and relocated to Nairobi a few years ago, where she now lives and works. When she is not on set, she is either at the gym or in her kitchen. Her meal of choice is seafood pasta — which, for someone who grew up by the ocean, feels exactly right.
Mizani is streaming now on Maisha Magic Plus and Showmax.
