Elizabeth Michael biography: age, early life, education, relationship, career, awards, endorsement, conviction, pardon and probation, philanthropy, net worth

Elizabeth Michael started acting at the age of five and today — she is ranked among the top producers in Tanzania. The actress isn’t only known for acting but the beautiful thespian has a humanitarian program which aims to help with special needs in society.

When she started acting, she was given the role, of a character called Lulu on Misukosuko. Interestingly, this is the name she is still know by in society today and it seems to be sticking throughout her adulthood and, it automatically became her name.

Elizabeth was caught in a manslaughter scandal in 2012. The case was ongoing until Elizabeth was cleared on the 12th of November in 2019, she served and finished her community work at the Home Affairs offices.As one can stumble upon bad luck, Elizabeth Michael shows us that it is possible to bounce back and work on bettering yourself and your name, each day as you live.

Elizabeth Michael was born in April 16, 1995. She is 25 years old.

She was born in Dar Es Salaam. Michael was raised by both her parents, father Michael Kimemeta, and her mother is Lucrecia Kalugira.

Lulu attended Remnant Academy for her primary education she then attended Perfect Vision High School. Elizabeth completed her secondary studies at St. Mary’s High School. Being on the mainstream media at a young age, it granted Lulu an opportunity to participate in scholarly acting activities, and it allowed her to be more expressive as she shapes her craft.

Upon her secondary studies completion, she then joined Tanzania Public Service College where she obtained her diploma in Human Resource Management.

During the time she was in jail, Elizabeth and her partner, Francis Ciza kept exchanging letters to keep the spark between them alive. Francis, is popularly known by Majizzo Ciza, the founder and CEO of EFM and TVE in Tanzania, decided to tie the knot a few months after Elizabeth was released from prison.

Elizabeth started her acting career at the tender age of five years old. She was discovered by the actor, Mahsein Awadh. Upon discovering her, Mahsein took her to Kaole Sanaa Group, and she appeared in a series of soap operas which include, Zizimo, Baragumu, Gharika, Taswira which were popular in the 2000s.

Elizabeth was given the name Lulu on her first acting gig, and today — she is popularly known by that name. Elizabeth made her film debut in 2005 for a film, Misukosuko.

At the age of 14, Elizabeth landed a huge role on Wahapahapa Radio Drama. The drama series was produced by Media Development Tanzania, and Elizabeth played the role, Mainda. It is focused on the development of a parent-child communication amidst the initial stages of adolescence. Elizabeth was also in the films, Family Tears, Ripple of Tears, Oxygen, House Boy, and Woman Of Principles. She has appeared in over 30 films.

As a producer, Elizabeth launched a movie, Foolish Age — In August 2013. She had her efforts rewarded when the movie was nominated on the Favourite Movie category and she won Favourite Movie at the 2014 Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF).

Elizabeth released her second movie, Mapenzi Ya Mangu — in 2015. She played as a leading character portraying God’s love, as the movie is themed in a direction of showing light towards the end of a dark tunnel. The movie was screened at the 2015 ZIFF and won the 2016 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards for the Best Movie East Africa category.

Finally finding the grip of producing, Elizabeth released her third movie as a producer in July 2016. The movie Ni Noma which she produced, making her the lead character in the movie. Thanks to the digital evolution, the movie was available on the digital platform via a mobile app called, ProinBox.

Her work speaks of how hard she’s worked to get to where she is today. Here are some of the awards she’s won:

2013 – Best Actress at the Zanzibar International Film Festival (Won)
2014 – Favourite Actress at the Tanzania People’s Choice Awards (Won)
2014 – Favourite Movie at the Tanzania People’s Choice Awards (Nominated)
2016 – Best Movie in Eastern Africa at the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (Won)
2016 – Best Actress at the Africa Entertainment Legend Awards in Nigeria (Nominated)
2016 – Style Icon of the Year at the Swahili Fashion Week Awards (Won)

Through her dedication to the work she does, Lulu was awarded with the Africa Youth Awards and named her among the 100 Most Influential alongside the likes of the South African fashion mogul, Rich Mnisi.

Elizabeth was convicted on the 13th of November 2017. The high court of Tanzania found her guilty for involuntary manslaughter of the actor, Steven Kanumba whom she dated while was she at the age of 17, in 2012.

She was alleged to be the cause of the death of the 28-year old Tanzanian actor Kanumba. It is said that the death occurred after the deceased approached Elizabeth about her talking to another man.

Michael was arrested during the ongoing investigation, which took almost a year, when she was granted bail. It was only later, when the charges were altered from murder to manslaughter. She was granted bail and Lulu believed she was innocent and Halima Mdee ⁠— the member of parliament, arranged lawyers Peter Kibatala and Kennedy Fungamtama, to assist with the case.

As the state reached it’s verdict, in October 2017, Elizabeth testified to the High Court that Kanumba attacked her aggressively with a sword and was intoxicated. She acknowledged during her testimony that she was the last person to be with Kanumba.

Lulu said in her testimony that Kanumba’s breathing escalated and he collapsed while beating her. According to Lulu, she used that opportunity to escape for her life but she was unaware that he died by the time he collapsed.  Michael left the scene and was later arrested. She only found out during her second day of arrest that she was taken in for the murder of Kanumba.

The police officers that arrested Michael’s found her with multiple injuries consistent with sword wounds. According to the postmortem report from Muhimbili National Hospital of Tanzania (MNHT), they concluded that the death of Kanumba’s death was caused by brain concussion following the difficultly of breathing in conjunction with immoderate drinking.

President John Pombe Magufuli pardoned prisoners and luckily, Michael was part of the group. The pardoning deducted 1/4 of her sentence. She was released from prison in May 2018 by the High Court of Tanzania under the Tanzania Community Services Act of 2002 which meant that the condition of her release is that she will finish the remaining time by doing community work after showing good behavior in prison.

Elizabeth did her community service by being a cleaner at the Dar Es Salaam, Home Affairs. This led Elizabeth into completing her probation on the 12th of November 2018.

Michael became an official ambassador for Da Es Salaam film festival, in Da Es Salaam. February 2014, the spirited Elizabeth signed with Airtel Tanzania to be a host of the Airtel Yatosha television show.

She signed with Paisha Tanzania in 2015. This secured her a brand ambassador deal for the mobile app, Paisha. It is focused on digital businesses. In 2016, she was named by Hengan Baby Products and Sanitary Co. Ltd to be the ambassador of Freestyle pads.

Azam Media Tanzania named Elizabeth to be the official ambassador of the Sinema Zetu International Film Festival (SZIFF) in October 2017. In 2019, Michael was the host of Sinema Zethu International Film Festival.

As a humanitarian, Michael started a campaign, “Save My Valentine“. She started the campaign on the 23rd of January in 2019 and Michael’s aim was to raise money to aid those with special needs.

Michael opened her wardrobe for sale and she sold some of her clothes, in order to raise money for the campaign. She managed to sell 62 clothing items and the money was distributed to orphanage centres in the area of Iringa.