Sapeta Sokag‘aitu Taito (born 1986) is a

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. She played the lead role in Fiji's first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

, ''

The Land Has Eyes ''The Land Has Eyes'' ( Rotuman: ''Pear ta ma ʻon maf'') is a 2004 Rotuman-language Fijian film written and directed by Vilsoni Hereniko. It is the first ever (and so far only) feature film from Rotuma. Plot The main character, Viki ( Sapeta Ta ...

'', in 2004.

Biography

Born in

Suva Suva (, ) is the Capital city, capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rew ...

, Taito moved to

Rotuma Rotuma () is a self-governing heptarchy, generally designated a Local government in Fiji, dependency of Fiji. Rotuma commonly refers to the Rotuma Island, the only permanently inhabited and by far the largest of all the islands in the Rotuma Gro ...

at a young age. She studied at the

Lelean Memorial School Lelean Memorial School is the largest school in Fiji. It was established in 1943 and is run by the Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma. It is co-located at the Davuilevu Methodist Compound with thDavuilevu Theological Collegeand the Young People ...

in Suva, and then studied

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

at the

University of the South Pacific The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the gov ...

, majoring in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

, with the aim of later studying

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and becoming a

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

."Torn between two worlds"
Stan Ritova, ''

Fiji Times ''The Fiji Times'' is a daily English-language newspaper published in Suva, Fiji. Established in Levuka on 4 September 1869 by George Littleton Griffiths, it is Fiji's oldest newspaper still operating. ''The Fiji Times'' is owned by Motibhai Gr ...

'', November 24, 2005

The Land Has Eyes

She auditioned successfully for the lead role, that of a young Rotuman woman, in the Rotuman-language film ''

'', despite never having seen a film before."The Cast"
official website of the film ''The Land Has Eyes''"The Land Has Eyes" (review)
Tim Appelo, ''Seattle Weekly'', April 12, 2006 She attended the film's world premiere at the 2004

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, travelling outside Fiji for the first time to do so.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taito, Sapeta 1986 births Living people Fijian people of Rotuman descent Fijian film actresses University of the South Pacific alumni People from Suva