I am an actor, filmmaker, theatre creator & university lecturer. I have a backround in International Relations and African Studies from the University of Leipzig and at Hong Kong Baptist University & worked in this field in NYC and Beijing as well as research assistant in the Human Rights department at the German parliament in Berlin. Since graduating from studying acting in 2015, Benita has appeared on cinema and television, worked and collaborated with theatres in Berlin and Montreal. She was part of the renowned BTW Artist’s Mentorship Program (2017/18), worked with companies such as Imago Theatre, Scapegoat Theatre among others in venues such as the Rialto, MAI, Centaur Theatre. In 2017, Bailey was part of the cast of six Black actresses for a production of Shange’s ‘For Colored Girls’ at McGill University marking an historical occasion – the institution’s first ever all-Black production.
I am an Ethiopian-German artist who has had the privilege of looking at the world and different societies from different perspectives, and who has had work experience in Europe, Africa, North America and Asia. In my art, I try to combine past experiences from both minority and majority perspectives, especially in relation to social justice, racial reconciliation, and empowerment of the disadvantaged, to bring them to the surface and reflect them back into society.
