Gigi Dia is an acclaimed actress who was born and raised in France. From an early age, she discovered her love for stories whether they were in books or films. Over the past year, she booked a major commercial and 5 films, 4 of them currently running in international festivals. She loves travelling and getting out of her comfort zone so she moved to Los Angeles, the capital of entertainment, to study acting at UCLA. Since she graduated in September 2019, everything went by very fast. Once her OPT started, she booked her first major commercial for BEAUTY BLENDER and SEPHORA. She also booked a role as a vendor on the HBO show INSECURE with Issa Rae and finished the year playing the main role in the film EATING LISA.

Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?

I visited Los Angeles a few times before moving in 2017. Knowing the city, I figured that I would have to be well prepared prior to moving in this city. I'm very organized and try to plan things in advance so my first months here were very smooth. But then Los Angeles is quite a big city and even if I was a student at UCLA, it was hard to make friends so I felt very lonely at some point. I can also say that being so far away from your home country brings a lot more obstacles on your road. Not only getting a working visa is difficult and requires lots of sleepless nights and stress, but I think the biggest challenge for me was to study acting in English. Acting is very personal and I had to make sure that I knew the meaning of the words and the scenes that I was given and that's a huge challenge when you have to act in a different language. But thanks to UCLA. I had amazing teachers that helped me pass through those obstacles.

What are some of the projects you’ve worked on?

My first gig was in the short film NIOFAR, I was playing a young foreign girl from Senegal freshly arrived in France. The short film was a success. We got 21 official selections in the top film festivals in the world such as Cannes Film Festival and Sundance and won 6 awards! I then had an agent and she got me many auditions.

I booked a part as a student during the final eloquence contest at Science Po in the movie UN HOMME PRESSEE with Leïla Bekhti and Fabrice Luccini and acted as a guest in the movie MISSION IMPOSSIBLE -FALLOUT directed Christopher McQuarrie, I was so excited when I first knew they were filming in Paris in spring 2017, and being part of this was a great honor. I had one of the most amazing experiences because I got to observe and learn how bigger productions and bigger actors work. During these 10 days of filming I learnt a lot. This experience made me want to study acting and to know everything about the industry in order to be the best in my craft. I love travelling and wanted to get out of my comfort zone so I moved to Los Angeles shortly after to study acting at UCLA.

And I made the best decision of my life by doing so. I learned so much at UCLA and met incredible people. I starred in 3 short films during my program and 2 are currently running in festivals. I had to travel to France in the middle of my program for the film NUMÉRO 10/NUMBER 10 to play AICHA, a soccer player. This part was so important to me because the movie is about a woman that wants to become a soccer player, but because she’s a woman, nobody takes her seriously, they even laugh at her. I believe that whether you’re a man or woman you should be able do anything you want. The film has currently 3 official selections. The Daily Dreamer so far got 4 official selections from California, through Europe all the way to Russia. The festivals are Marina Del Rey Film Festival 2019, Moscow Shorts Film Festival 2019, Golden State Film Festival 2020, and Esoteric Film Festival 2020.

Since I graduated in September 2019, everything went by very fast. Once my OPT started, I booked my first major commercial for BEAUTY BLENDER and SEPHORA. I love this brand and I’m so grateful to represent it. The commercial promotes their new concealer available in 40 shades. From the lightest skins to the darkest ones. It’s so important for me to be part of it. I believe every skin deserves to be represented and everyone finds its color at Beauty Blender.

I then booked a part as a vendor on the HBO show INSECURE with Issa Rae and finished the year playing the main role in the film EATING LISA. It’s the story of Gamalielle, who goes on a mission to steal and eat the famous painting Mona Lisa. It was very funny to play this to me as a French person. And I literally had to eat a picture of Mona Lisa, so that was also a great experience. The film currently runs in festivals and got 1 official selection so far.

This year I got the opportunity to play a reporter for ABC in the upcoming movie The Prom, directed by Ryan Murphy and for the network Netflix. I got to be on set and act in front of him, Kerry Washington and Meryl Street. I have more projects coming up.