Guslagie Malanda

Guslagie Malanda (born 1990)[1] is a French actress and art curator. She has starred in the films My Friend Victoria (2014) and Saint Omer (2022).

Guslagie Malanda
Born1990 (age 32–33)
Occupations
  • Actress
  • curator
Years active2014–present
Known for

Life and career

Raised in France, Malanda had an interest in theater and cinema from a young age.[2][3] She studied art history in college and has worked in art curation since graduation.[2][3]

Malanda made her screen debut in 2014, playing the title role of Jean-Paul Civeyrac's My Friend Victoria.[3] She got the part after a friend working on the film recommended that she audition.[2] Her acting was well-received;[2] a New York Times review noted her "pensive performance" as Victoria, a young mother who gets back in contact with the family that once took her in.[4] However, after My Friend Victoria, Malanda went many years without acting professionally; as a Black Frenchwoman, she refused to accept roles she considered stereotypical (criminals, immigrants, terrorists, etc.), which comprised almost all the parts she was offered.[3][5] During this time, while working as an art curator, Malanda considered herself "an actress in secret".[3] In 2018, she took a minor role on an episode of the US television series The Romanoffs.[3]

Director Alice Diop, a friend of Malanda's, encouraged her to return to film by offering to cast her in Saint Omer (2022).[2] Based on the real-life Fabienne Kabou case, the film stars Malanda as Laurence Coly, a Senegalese immigrant on trial for killing her one-year-old daughter.[3][5] Malanda studied tai chi to prepare for the challenge of controlling her breath on the courtroom stand.[5][6] Shooting the film was intense, with Malanda delivering very long monologues and spending a lot of time in character; she described experiencing nightmares for a year.[2][7] Malanda's acting was again well-regarded; Mario Naves of The New York Sun praised her "remarkable performance" for its "stately proportions, subtlety, and grit", and A. O. Scott of The New York Times said she gave her character "the tragic, piercing dignity of a Racine heroine".[8][9] At the 48th César Awards, she was nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actress for Saint Omer.[10]

Malanda is set to appear in Bertrand Bonello's The Beast (2023).[11]

Filmography
Key
† Denotes films that have not yet been released
Year Title Role Notes
2014 My Friend Victoria Victoria Feature film
2018 The Romanoffs Clotilde Television series; 1 episode
2022 Saint Omer Laurence Coly Feature film
2023 The Beast † Poupée Kelly Feature film

References
  1. "Saint Omer press kit" (PDF). medias.unifrance.org. Unifrance. p. 17. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 March 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  2. Brzeski, Patrick (16 November 2022). "'Saint Omer' Star Guslagie Malanda Says 'Being an Actress Was Always in My Gut'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  3. Truffaut-Wang, Olivia (27 January 2023). "Saint Omer's Guslagie Malanda Is No Longer an Actress in Secret". The Cut. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  4. Catsoulis, Jeannette (3 December 2015). "Review: An Exploration of Race and Class in 'My Friend Victoria'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  5. Wong Macabasco, Lisa (13 January 2023). "Director Alice Diop and Star Guslagie Malanda on Their Powerful New Film, Saint Omer". Vogue. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  6. Larsen, Peter (11 January 2023). "French director Alice Diop's 'Saint Omer' explores a mother's unspeakable act". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  7. Zuckerman, Esther (16 January 2023). "For the Documentarian Alice Diop, Only Fiction Could Do Justice to a Tragedy". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  8. Naves, Mario (9 January 2023). "While Flawed, 'Saint Omer' Offers Much That Is Worth Watching". The New York Sun. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  9. Scott, A. O. (12 January 2023). "'Saint Omer' Review: The Trials of Motherhood". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  10. Keslassy, Elsa (25 January 2023). "France's Cesar Awards Nominations Unveiled". Variety. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  11. Cheze, Thierry (27 November 2022). "Guslagie Malanda: 'La Bardot de La Vérité m'a aidée pour Saint Omer'" [Guslagie Malanda: 'La Vérité's Bardot helped me for Saint Omer']. Première (in French). Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
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