The Afro News, Vancouver
First met this amazing, young, vibrant and talented Canadian Family back in 2013, a little over five years ago, when Marika Siewert was nominated by her young son, Zac, who at the time was only 10 years old, for a SAGE Foundation Award (Social Acceptance of Great Excellence) for her developing music career.
The Siewert Family since then has been completely ‘UNSTOPPABLE’ which ironically is also a hit single and the name of an album released on the pop charts in 2012; the outcome of Marika’s talents as a Gospel/Pop Singer Songwriter.
Together as a well bonded family they all recognised and embraced their individual talents and created their own show business plan. Setting lofty goals and reaching for the stars, they embarked upon the journey of singing, acting, dancing, hosting and comedic entertainment. The Siewert’s have taken the likes of the Sound of Music’s Von Trapp family to a whole new level.
Like any start-up family-business the first three to five years is undoubtedly an uphill challenge. The year 2016 ended on a high note when Marika’s song HEAL OUR LAND reached the #1 spot on Joy Radio that is based out of Toronto. This was a pre-empt to the year 2017 when Canada celebrated its 150th Birthday.
The year 2017 started boldly when this Singer Songwriter rebranded herself and introduced RIKA SIEWERT-getting ready to go global. With this new branding, she launched a new platform of the music, the message, and the ability to be a one of a kind as she approached a global market with her music and acting talents.
In November 2017 Rika released a new album titled The Gospel Album which is a play list of songs close to her heart that shares messages of hope, faith and love that reflects her own journey of Grace. Rika was also nominated for two Canadian Gospel Music Awards in the category of Female Vocalist Of The Year and Inspirational Song Of The Year for her hit single Heal Our Land written/produced by Jeff Bjorgan and Colin Janz.
Marika’s songs are currently being played across the country on Pop, Hot AC (Adult Contemporary) and Christian music stations which Marika says is a true privilege to write and produce music that can be heard by all audiences.
This Pop/Gospel Singer Songwriter Mom of three children is furthermore unstoppable and engaged in acting projects namely;
Untold Stories of the ER where she played the role of Nurse Emma which aired on TLC.
Rika landed a role in the Hallmark Channel TV Movie release ‘LIKE CATS & DOGS’ starring Cassidy Gifford.
She further went on and landed a role in the Hallmark Channel original movie ‘GARAGE SALE MYSTERY: A CASE FOR MURDER in this TV movie she acted alongside Lori Loughlin (Full House) and Sarah Strange, which became the most watched telecast in Hallmark movies and mysteries history broadcasting into 1.337 million homes across America.
Rika is a recurring guest star in her role as Flight Engineer, Chris Byrant in the Netflix series Project MC2 and performed the lead role in the original play “Learning Cuban” by Gabriella Klein, Vancouver, BC.
Even with all that Marika has going on in her music and showbiz career she still has dreams and hopes -to be a lead actress in a movie and that the ethnic and race discrimination in TV Movies, Episodes and Big Screen Films would be less of a factor and be more based on the talent of the individual.
With some challenges in show business this family adopted the attitude of the show simply must go on and without further ado all five family members carried on proving their worth.
Stacy Siewert – in addition to being an extraordinary Husband to Marika and Dad to their three beautiful children Zac, Jaedon and Zoey, Stacy also Owns and Operates his own Talent Agency. Stacy is an Actor and appeared in various projects like Amazon Prime Air, Subaru, Macklemore/Fences Arrows video. He is a Professional Photographer and has years of experience as a Managing Agent in the Music Industry.
The offspring of Stacy and Marika’s union exemplifies the old adages of ‘chip off the old block’ and ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’ with their combined and growing list of acting credits.
Zac Siewert is 15 going on 16, the eldest child of the Siewert Family and in typical firstborn fashion displays a quiet, cautious and reserved nature. Titled as an Actor/Dancer he had a role alongside Ryan Reynolds in the 2016 Promo Trailer – ‘Halloween Dead Pool’. Zac has a more prominent role in Marvel Comics animated movie ‘Spiderman’ where he narrates the character of Black Spiderman coming to theatres in December 2018. Zac was an intern under renowned Choreographer Paul Becker and he also got to dance and audition with Amy Wright – Toronto based casting Director and Choreographer of Family Channel’s ‘The Next Step’.
Jaedon Siewert is the middle child and at age 13 has dreams of acting in a comedy TV show. He credits his style of comedy to that of James Carrey and has a high regard towards Trevor Noah. Jaedon appeared on screen from an early age starring in commercials for Disney Pixar, T-Mobile and Humana. He also had a role alongside Ryan Reynolds in the 2016 Promo Trailer – Halloween Dead Pool. Jaedon acted as the character Raz, in ‘Aliens Ate My Homework’ Video released March 2018.
Zoey Siewert is the youngest rising star of the Siewert Family – her smile and bubbly personality lights up a room. This 11 year old girl has got talent – she can strum a ukulele and sing anything from pop to gospel to the theme song of the TV show she hosts that launched in June 2017 ‘Finding Stuff Out’ which airs on TVO Kids a Montreal based TV station. Zoey booked 52 episodes of a recurring role on the animated series ‘Nina’s World’ for Sprout/NBC where she is the voice of Chelsea. She also has roles in the Netflix series ‘Travelers’ and ‘Haters Back Off’as well as in the series ‘Imposters’ and ‘Project MC2’.
To infinity and beyond – the journey of this spirited and gifted family has only just begun as they set sites and get ready to kick up their heels and voices and launch onto a much broader global platform in showbiz.
