Sinna Sherina Munaf was born on 11 June 1990, the second child of Triawan Munaf and Luki Ariani. As a child, she enjoyed painting and singing. Her parents arranged for her to have singing lessons from Elfa Secioria. In 1997, she won a karaoke contest in Jakarta, followed by victory in a second singing contest in 1998.
1990–2001: The beginnings and Petualangan Sherina In 1999, at the age of nine, Sherina made her debut album
Andai Aku Besar Nanti (
When I Grow Up) under
Tantowi Yahya's label Ceepee Productions. The album went Platinum, selling over 250,000 copies and won two
Indonesian Music Awards for
Best Child Song and ''Best Children's Album''. and gained wide theatrical release in Indonesia. An article in
Asiaweek magazine described her as
Asian News Maker of the year 2000. She was interviewed by
BBC London, which gained the attention of
Westlife, who would duet with her on "
I Have a Dream" for the Asian market. Gumilang Ramadhan (general manager of
Sony BMG Indonesia) said, "part of the profit from the sales will be given to Indonesian children through an international charity foundation". In 2001, Sherina was interviewed by
Hong Kong TV network
Star TV on its "Focus Asia" program, in which she was named a
Princess of Pop by
Adrian Brown. She appeared in numerous TV commercials and was sent by the
WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) to Japan for an
orangutan awareness campaign:
Borneo Orangutan Survival. Sherina was nominated as
the Most Preferred Kid Actress and TV Talent based on National Kid Market Survey by Frontier Marketing and Research Consultant. Also on the same year, she recorded a cover of "
I Have A Dream" with Irish boyband
Westlife to raise funds for
UNICEF and received a special award in the "Most Talented Child Artist" category in the 2001 Asia Pacific Film Festival in Hanoi for her performance. At the end of 2001, Sherina was named
the Most Shining Star Child by
RCTI. In June 2001, Sherina sang "Simfoni Raya", written by
Guruh Sukarnoputra for his album
Bakti dan Persembahanku, released to celebrate the centenary anniversary of the birth of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno.
2002–2004: My Life In 2002, Sherina released her third album, titled "My Life". This album showed Sherina shifting from childhood songs toward teenage themes. The album's singles are "My Life", "Click Clock", and "Aku Beranjak Dewasa" (I Grew Up). It also features a song written by Sherina, "Kisah Sang Lebah" (Bee Story).
2007–2014: Primadona, Gemini, and Tuna To shed her child star image, Sherina signed to Trinity Optima Productions and released her fourth album,
Primadona, on 14 March 2007, spewing out two singles:
Sendiri and
Ku Disini. 7 of the tracks of her fourth album were written solely by Sherina herself. Slank veteran
Abdee Negara was recruited to play guitar chords for
Sendiri. Before she released her fifth album,
Gemini, on 9 July 2009, she created two soundtrack singles in 2008: Jalan Cinta for
Ayat-Ayat Cinta and KuBahagia for
Laskar Pelangi. Both soundtracks appeared on Gemini, which spewed three singles:
Cinta Pertama dan Terakhir,
Geregetan (technically a cover of her father's song from his band days) and
Pergilah Kau. Around 2007–2010, she became brand ambassador for Panasonic, Casio, and Maybelline New York. Sherina was an Ambassador at the World Youth Conference, One Young World, in Zurich, Switzerland, in September 2011. She performed the
Sing Your Mind, written specially for the event. In February 2013, she became a judge and coach on the Indonesian version of
The Voice, and released her first mini album entitled
Tuna. It spawned three singles:
Sebelum Selamanya, Akan KuTunggu, and
Apakah Ku Jatuh Cinta (a collaboration with labelmate Vidi Aldiano). After the album's release, she went to Australia for studying Science at
University of Sydney, and Japan for studying Japanese language and animation.
2018–2023: Wiro Sableng, Earwig and the Witch and Petualangan Sherina 2 In 2017, Sherina was cast as Anggini, a female warrior trained under guidance of Dewa Tuak for
Fox International Productions and Lifelike Pictures collaboration
Wiro Sableng (212 Warrior). The film was released on 30 August 2018 to critical acclaim. In 2019, she was cast as Earwig's mother in Studio Ghibli's
Earwig and the Witch as well as composing the theme song ''Don't Disturb Me'' alongside
Hiroki Kamemoto of
Glim Spanky, Kiyokazu Takano of
Mrs. Green Apple, and
Kavka Shishido. The movie was released as a television film on NHK on 30 December 2020, followed by planned theatrical release in 2021. On 3 November 2020, she married Indonesian
actor and male
model,
Baskara Mahendra. In 2021, Sherina and the other cast and producers of
Petualangan Sherina (''Sherina's Adventure'') announced the sequel of the 2000 cult film, with Sherina confirmed to fill in the role of music producer alongside her elder sister Virania, filling Elfa Secioria's seat as Elfa died in 2011. The film will be released theatrically on 28 September 2023. == Artistry ==