Djaka Souaré is an actress known for her work in the HULU special "Black Stories Present: Your Attention Please", directed by TriBeCa 2019 award-winner Phillip Youmans. She was recently the face of head of rebellion soldier Halima in the video game "Call of Duty." Djaka is also a filmmaker; her first short film, "Jazz in Wakanda", which she wrote, directed, produced and in which she starred, was an Official selection at Film festivals like Urban World, Nitehawk Shorts & New Filmmakers LA, and sold to COMCAST/TUBI as part of "Black Power Series". Her pilot script, Ainoah, dystopian tale of a secret society of multicultural women, won the 2022 Kosinima grant. Djaka is a Women in Film and a #Startwith8Hollywood mentee, a Blackmagic Collective Filmmaker Advancement Initiative Fellow and in 2022, shadowed an episode of Freeform "Good Trouble." Of West African & French descent, Djaka speaks English, French and Spanish fluently.
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Djaka was born and raised in Paris, France to a French Mother and a West-African Father. She started acting, singing & dancing at the age of eight. At 17, under the direction of Claudia Stavinsky, Djaka was cast as the witty Anita in West Side Story and performed at the legendary Chatelet Theater. She spent a year at the Performing Arts Academy of Skyline High near San Francisco. Back in Paris, she pursued her training at Paris Musical Theater Academy. She performed on stage and started working in TV. At the age of 23, Djaka wrote her first play:"What do girls talk about?", a comedy about two roommates stuck in their house on Valentine's night. The play toured in France, Belgium and Hong Kong. Represented by CineArt then Artmedia, Djaka got cast in french independent films but returned to Hong Kong where she performed non-stop for about two years before she moved to NYC.
Graduate of the International Training Program at Broadway Dance Center, Djaka was selected to choreograph Beyonce's "Who run the world" for the 2015 NYC Dance Parade. She performed in "A world of economics", directed by Pascal Rambert at La Mama, was cast as Yelena in New Saloon "Three Translations of Uncle Vanya" at The Invisible Dog, and joined Classical Theater of Harlem for their "Romeo'N Juliet" production in 2014 and "Tempest" production alongside Ron Cephas-Jones in 2015.
Djaka became part of the Goldcrest & Saboteur Production family, overseeing projects from financing to casting with financiers, producers, writers and directors, working across both documentary and narrative films. Djaka was a producer on Sebastian Junger & Nick Quested National Geographic feature documentary: "Hell On Earth: the fall of Syria and the rise of Isis" that premiered at TriBeCa FF in 2017. She was honored with a duPont Award for her excellence in journalistic work. She was also a co-producer on the documentary "I Want my MTV" opening at TriBeCa FF in 2019.
Most recently, Djaka starred in HULU's Black Stories Present: "Imagine a Moon Colony" and in Solange Knowles's produced "Nairobi", both directed by TriBeCa Film Founder Awards winner Philip Youmans. She also starred in "Words", directed by Amhalise Morgan and with Nicholas Pinnock, star of ABC TV Drama "For Life."
Fierce human's rights advocate, advocate for equity and inclusion for women in the entertainment industry, fighting for representation of the African diaspora across all media, Djaka's first short film as a writer-director was composed of 70% women crew & cast. "Jazz in Wakanda", a "thought-provoking and powerful story about race and identity" was selected in festivals like Urban World, Nitehawk Shorts, New Filmmakers Los Angeles, and New York African Film Festival, and is now streaming on TUBI/COMCAST. Her second short film as a director,"For Life", a comedy about two friends connected in life (and death) was shot with an all female-identifying crew and cast of thirty for the 2020 Women's Week end Film Challenge.
Djaka has several projects in development, all shedding light on the experience of the African diaspora, mixed identities, and underrepresented voices. Djaka is also developing her father's life story, Guinean immigrant who illegally fled the country in the 1970s.
Her pilot "Ainoah", centered around a secret society of multicultural women disrupting the establishment won the Kosinima Grant and made it to the Top 20 of 2021 Hillman Grad Indeed Rising Voices Program. Djaka is a Women in Film mentoring program and a #Startwith8Hollywood mentee, a Blackmagic Collective Filmmaker Advancement Initiative Fellow and shadowed an episode of Freeform "Good Trouble" under her mentor showrunner/producer/director Joanna Johnson.
Djaka is currently in post-production for two proof of concepts: the horror/comedy "Cut Me If You Can" directed by award-winner filmmakers Nicolas Polixene and Sylvain Loubet-dit Gajol and "Reunion", directed by actress Zainab Jah & Director/DP Timothy Naylor.
