Flashmag's guest star this month is a muse of laughter, Roukiata Ouédraogo has an atypical career. Leaving her native Burkina Faso, nothing or hardly predestined her to a career in comedy. It might be more accurate to say that her dream of becoming a fashion designer did not abort, but rather gave birth to something imponderable. Comedy. At the end Roukiata is an accomplished artist. She took some time off her busy schedule to give us a broad interview in which she tells us a bit more about her person and career.
Hello Roukiata, we are pleased to have you as a featured guest this month. So, it looks like the broken dream of a stylist, was rather a shell that was to free the actress that you are now. So, despite everything when you arrived in France did you really imagine becoming an actress? And how did you experience this kind of revision of your goals in life?
Roukiata Ouédraogo: No, I did not imagine for one second that I was going to become an actress. But by temper I take life as it comes, I adapt my goals to the situation.
The main thing for me is to be in the action, keep your mind open and know how to seize the opportunities available to you.
It is customary to say that Africans in the West, despite certain intrinsic qualities or their academic pedigree, are forced to make existentialist choices for their survival. Was it your case?
Of course, we are rarely expected in countries where we arrive as migrants. You have to fight, find your place and sometimes accept jobs that are not motivating and rewarding. I did that too, but, as I said, by temper, I'm driven to seek more, and better. Personally, I have always tried to get closer to the most fulfilling situations for me.
After social studies, you went back to fashion anyway because you became a makeup artist, what drove the makeup artist that you were, to think about enrolling in a prestigious school of comedy like the course Florent of Paris?
French is not my mother tongue, I learned it at school in Burkina, but when I arrived in France, I did not feel very comfortable when I had to express myself in public. The training in theater at course Florent, helped me a lot, to have more self-confidence. And, the theater has brought me a real fulfillment. I discovered a whole universe, or rather rediscovered, because there was this culture in my family. My late father and my late older brother were doing amateur drama. Without being aware of it, I had the theatrical fiber in me. But perhaps also being alone in Paris, it was a way to recreate a link between me and these two dear ones, who unfortunately passed away shortly after my arrival in France.
Flashmag February 2019 www.flashmag.net
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Roukiata Ouédraogo From style to humor
Interview
comedy
Crédit photos Pascal ITO