Senait Ashenafi (born March 10, 1966 in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

) is an

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n-born actress in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

who played Keesha Ward in ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

'' from 1994 to 1998. Senait was nominated for a NAACP Image Award for "Outstanding Actress In A Daytime Drama Series" at the 29th NAAC Image Awards in 1998. Senait was featured in the bestselling book "Success Strategies for African-Americans - A Guide to Creating Personal and Professional Achievements" by Beatrice Nivens. Senait has worked as a

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, and

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

. She is the daughter of the Ethiopian composer and ethnomusicologist

Ashenafi Kebede Ashenafi Kebede ( am, አሸናፊ ከበደ; 1938 – May 8, 1998) was an Ethiopian composer, Conductor (music), conductor, ethnomusicology, ethnomusicologist, historical musicologist, music educator, novelist, and poet. Early life Born in ...

and the sister of Nina Ashenafi Richardson, a judge in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Senait attended

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...

, where her father was a professor. She went on to be a guest star on shows such as ''

A Different World ''A Different World'' is an American sitcom (and a spin-off of ''The Cosby Show'') television series that aired for six seasons on NBC from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993. The series originally centered on Denise Huxtable ( Lisa Bonet) an ...

'', ''

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart t ...

,'' ''

Mad About You ''Mad About You'' is an American television sitcom starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a married couple in New York City. It initially aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999, winning numerous awards including four Golden Glob ...

, Amen, The Sinbad Show, Out All Night, Baghdad Cafe and The Ben Stiller Show.'' Senait has starred in national and international commercials and print-ads for top companies such as

Hilton Hilton or Hylton may refer to: Companies * Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc., a global hospitality company based in the United States that owns several hotel chains and subsidiary companies containing the Hilton name ** Hilton Hotels & Resorts, fla ...

J. C. Penney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Girl ...

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

, Nexxus Shampoo,

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...

Merle Norman Cosmetics Merle Norman Cosmetics Inc. or simply known as Merle Norman, is an American multinational cosmetics company that manufactures skin care and makeup products founded in 1931 by Merle Norman. The company is known for pioneering the "try before you ...

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...

Pringles Pringles is an American brand of stackable potato-based crisps. Originally sold by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1968 and marketed as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips", the brand was sold in 2012 to the current owner, Kellogg's. As of 2011, Pri ...

, World of Curls, Joico Shampoo and Conditioner, Sprite,

Chevy Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and oust ...

, Montgomery Ward,

Miller Lite Miller Lite is a 4.2% ABV light American lager beer sold by Molson Coors (previously MillerCoors) of Chicago, Illinois. The company also produces Miller Genuine Draft and Miller High Life. Miller Lite competes mainly with Anheuser-Busch's Bu ...

and

Taco Bell Taco Bell is an American-based chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired foods, includi ...

. Upon leaving the role of Keesha Ward on ''General Hospital'' in 1998, Senait went on to star in the movie, ''Honeybee'', in 2001.

References

External links

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WCHS interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Senait Ashenafi 1966 births Living people American female models American women singers American film actresses American soap opera actresses Florida State University alumni People from Addis Ababa Ethiopian emigrants to the United States 21st-century American women