Senegalese-Born French Actress, Aïssa Maïga Debuts in Nollywood

International sensation and César nominated actress, Aïssa Maïga will join a pan-African cast in the epic Nigerian civil war film ‘A Forgotten Place’ written and directed by the award-winning US-based Nigerian film maker, Odera Ozoka.
The Senegalese-born, French-raised actress will take on the lead female role. Odera made this revelation recently while in the country. He said Maiga will be starring in the film alongside two other international actors when they commence filming in August in the country.
“Three international actors are already on the list of stars to be featured in the film. One of them is a Senegalese-born, French-raised Aïssa Maïga. I’m planning to feature actors from Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria,” Odera disclosed, stressing that Egbunike Cave in Anambra State has been penned down as one of the locations to be used for filming.”
Describing the film as a story about forgiveness, reluctance, and struggle, Odera revealed that the film will be featuring about 500 casts, with 20 as regulars. “ I’m coming back in May to start casting for the movie,”he further disclosed.
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. Working with local actors in Zimbabwe, she discovered street theater and decided to become an actress.