Aïssa Maïga

Aïssa Maïga
Aïssa Maïga at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Aïssa Maïga 25 May 1975 Dakar, Senegal
Occupation	Actress, Producer
Years active	1997–present

Aïssa Maïga (25 May 1975) is a Senegalese born French actress.^[1]

Biography

Youth

Aïssa Maïga was born in Dakar, Senegal to a Malian father and Senegalese mother. She and her mother left Senegal for Fresnes in France, where she lived until the age of nine. She showed an interest in movies at a very young age and was not satisfied being a mere movie-goer. On a school field trip to a theater, she was able to slip away from her teacher and make her way back stage. In high school she took her first acting classes with Daisie Faye, who today is artistic director of a Jazz and comedy festival that provides a more liberal curriculum. At the age of 14 and for three years, she was in The longest night (1992) a musical comedy by her teacher and during this time, appeared at the Mogador Theater and in the Follies Bergères

She graduated from high school after three years of study, including theater studies and worked on an artistic project in Zimbabwe, Eric Cloué’s Le royaume du passage. She was 19 years old. Working with local actors in Zimbabwe, she discovered street theater and decided to become an actress.

Career

Aïssa Maïga at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival

Early acting

She made her feature film debut, appearing in Denis Amart's Saraka Bô. She followed that up in 2000 playing a rebellious young girl in Hanake's Code Inconnu, starring Juliette Binoche. Aïssa Maïga has developed her versatility by taking on such a great diversity of roles. In 1999, she worked with New Wave director, Alain Tanner, in the sequel to the 1975 cult film Jonas, playing Lila in Jonas and Lila.

In Alexandre Jardin's 2001 comedy, Le Prof, she worked with Jean-Hughes Anglade, playing a student. Then she worked with Murielle Robin and Fejira Deliba in Marylin, a film dealing with the social and economic insecurity and solidarity among cashiers. She collaborated once again with Haneke in Caché (2005), playing with Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil and Denis Podalydès. She also appeared in several television series.

Success

In her desire to consolidate all she had learned, she returned to her studies, this time with Hélène Cheruy Zidi, at the Actor’s Lab. Her perfectionism was well worth the effort. In 2007 she starred in two features, distinguishing herself in the role of Kassia in Kapiche’s Poupés Russes and in Claude Berry’s L’un reste,l’autre part. Aïssa Maïga made her mark on French cinema through a series of roles and fortuitous meetings with films such as Je vais bien, ne t’en fais pas with Melanie Laurent and in Oliver Schmitz’s 2006 short feature by the Cohen Brothers, Paris, je t’aime.

In XXXX she was nominated for a Best Actress César for her role as Melé, a disillusioned bar singer in Abderrahamane Sissako’s Bamako. In this role she sang Christie Azuma’s “Naam” without knowing the language.

Although she had numerous film successes (Michel Gondry’s L’Ecume des jours, art films and comedies, i.e. Prête à tout, TV films such as Toussaint L’Ouverture, 2012), her popularity was not an obstacle to a return to the stage in Brooklyn Boy (2004), Les grandes personnes, adapted from the book by Marie N’diaye as well as in David Lindsay-Abaire’s Des gens biens.

She plays an African mother who tells the story of African intellectuals’ immigration through the lens of the life of French rapper, Kamini and his family in the 2016 movie Bienvenue à Marly-Gomont.

International career

In 2012, she appeared in Cristina Comencini’s Bianco e Nero with Thierry Ebouaney, a performance that won her two awards: Cinema i Done and the Festival de Bastia award.

She was also on the set of Mickey Dubé’s Comatose in South Africa in 2016.

Causes

For several years, she has been the ambassador of AMREF, an African NGO dedicated to training medical personnel involved in caring for mothers and children. In 2012, she went to Uganda on a humanitarian mission.

Theater

Year	Title	Author	Director	Notes
2004	Brooklyn Boy	Donald Margulies	Michel Fagadau	Comédie des Champs-Élysées
2011	Les Grandes Personnes	Marie NDiaye	Christophe Perton	Théâtre national de la Colline
2015	Good People	David Lindsay-Abaire	Anne Bourgeois	Théâtre Hébertot

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1997	Saraka bô	Danièle	Denis Amar
1998	La revanche de Lucy	Lucy	Janusz Mrozowski
	Le cadeau de maman		Patrick Halpine	Short
	Un mois de réflexion	Sylvie	Serge Moati	TV Movie
1999	Jonas et Lila, à demain	Lila	Alain Tanner
	Maison de famille	Sylvie	Serge Moati (2)	TV Movie
2000	Code Unknown	Black Girl	Michael Haneke
	Le prof	Julie	Alexandre Jardin
	Lise et André	Esther	Denis Dercourt
	Marie-Line	Malika	Mehdi Charef
	Mom's Present	Farida	Patrick Halpine (2)	Short
2001	Voyage à Ouaga	Loutaya	Camille Mouyéké
2002	Georges chez les tops	Gisela	Olivier Chrétien	Short
	Négro	Aïssa	Karim Akadiri Soumaïla	TV Movie
2003	Mes enfants ne sont pas comme les autres	Myriam	Denis Dercourt (2)
	Les baigneuses	Rita's sister	Viviane Candas
	Rien que du bonheur	Anna	Denis Parent
	Commissaire Moulin	Dolly	Joyce Buñuel	TV Series (1 Episode)
	Les Cordier, juge et flic	Aline	Gilles Béhat	TV Series (1 Episode)
2004	Libre armada		Ingrid Gogny, Vincent Jaglin, ...
	Par accident	Constance	Jérôme Foulon	TV Movie
2005	Russian Dolls	Kassia	Cédric Klapisch
	Caché	Chantal	Michael Haneke (2)
	L'un reste, l'autre part	Farida	Claude Berri
	Travaux, on sait quand ça commence...	Condé's fiancé	Brigitte Roüan
	Le train	The barman	Brahim Fritah	Short
	Sometimes in April	Young Militant	Raoul Peck	TV Movie
	P.J.	Marie-Laure Vecchiali	Christophe Barbier	TV Series (1 Episode)
2006	Bamako	Melé	Abderrahmane Sissako	Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actress
	Paris, je t'aime	Sophie	Oliver Schmitz
	Don't Worry, I'm Fine	Léa	Philippe Lioret
	I Do	Kirsten Hansen	Éric Lartigau
	Mamdou il est où ?	Mariettou	Khady N'Diaye	Short
	Une famille parfaite	Martha	Patrick-Mario Bernard & Pierre Trividic	TV Movie
2007	L'âge d'homme... maintenant ou jamais !	Tina	Raphaël Fejtö
	Carcasse	Aïssa	Ismael El Iraki	Short
2008	Black and White	Nadine	Cristina Comencini	Bastia Italian Film Festival - Best Actress
	Les insoumis	Kathia	Claude-Michel Rome
	Sex, Okra and Salted Butter	Amina	Mahamat Saleh Haroun	TV Movie
2009	Diamant 13	Farida	Gilles Béhat (2)
	L'aide au retour	The official	Mohammed Latreche	Short
	Pas de toit sans moi	Ashanti	Guy Jacques	TV Movie
	Suite noire	Sara	Dominique Cabrera	TV Series (1 Episode)
2010	Ensemble, c'est trop	Clémentine	Léa Fazer
	Le temps de la kermesse est terminé	Martina	Frédéric Chignac
	L'avocat	Ève	Cédric Anger
2011	Mineurs 27	Aminata	Tristan Aurouet
	Dédicace	Elise	Olivier Chrétien (2)	Short
2012	HOUBA! On the Trail of the Marsupilami	Clarisse Iris	Alain Chabat
	Today	Nella	Alain Gomis
	One Man's Show	Elisa	Newton Aduaka
	Toussaint Louverture	Suzanne	Philippe Niang	TV Mini-Series
2013	Mood Indigo	Alise	Michel Gondry
	Aya of Yop City	Aya	Alain Chabat	Voice
	Mortel été	Julie	Denis Malleval	TV Movie Luchon International Film Festival - Best Actress
2014	Prêt à tout	Alice	Nicolas Cuche	Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actress
2015	Mystère à la Tour Eiffel	Henriette	Léa Fazer (2)	TV Movie
2016	The African Doctor	Anne Zantoko	Julien Rambaldi
	Corniche Kennedy	Awa	Dominique Cabrera (2)
	Il a déjà tes yeux	Salimata Aloka	Lucien Jean-Baptiste
	Love Is Dead	Léane	Éric Capitaine

References

1. Aïssa Maïga Elle

External links

• Aïssa Maïga at the Internet Movie Database