Taking Her Shot

With each new look that she donned for the shoot, it was almost as if she transformed into a different person before our very eyes. From bright, bubbly laughter to pensive, faraway looks and intense, smouldering gazes, Zahirah Macwilson performed with an aplomb I found to be both awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time. But then, as she sat among her managers during the break, she pops in a McDonalds fry, then another. I couldn’t begin to tell you why that moment stuck with me, but it did, because that was when my first impression of her wavered. So, who was the woman behind the performer?

BEHIND THE NAME

Zahirah has just turned 27 last February; her son, Isaac, celebrated his first birthday bash the month before. In 2020, she debuted in , an action-packed comedy film directed by Ghaz Abu Bakar, as Bulan, a fierce Indonesian special forces trainee who gets embroiled in a human-trafficking syndicate while trying to find her kidnapped sister, Melati. Then, just a day after her cover shoot and a scant few hours before our interview, both her and her manager had another project that lasted till two in the morning. “It is what it is,” they both said, and waved away my