Maria Menado was born in Menado, Indonesia in 1931. She got her start in acting at Shaw Brothers’ Malay Film Productions before moving on to work for Cathay-Keris. She is famous for her role as the ‘pontianak’ (female vampire) in the box-office hits: ‘Pontianak’ (1957), ‘Dendam Pontianak’ (1957) and ‘Sumpah Pontianak’ (1958), all directed by B.N. Rao. She set up her own film production company, Maria Menado Productions in 1959, making her Malaya’s first film-star producer.
