Djaka Souaré is an actress currently starring in the award-winning horror-comedy "Cut Me If You Can" (Woodstock, Cannes Market, Clermont-Ferrand, SCAD, Moscow FF) directed by Nicolas Polixene & Sylvain Loubet. In 2024, she acted in & produced "Reunion", Oscar-qualified short film for 2025 , directed by Zainab Jah & Timothy Naylor's, with Danaï Gurira as EP and Lupita Nyong'o as AP. Other credits include the HULU special "Black Stories Present: Your Attention Please", directed by TriBeCa 2019 award winner Philip Youmans.
Djaka's short film as a writer-director, "Jazz in Wakanda", was an Official selection at Urban World, Nitehawk Shorts, NYAFF, sold to COMCAST and is now streaming on TUBI. In 2023, she was one of 25 screenwriters to be selected in the first CANEX & AFRIFF program "Script to Screen." She was one of six screenwriters to win the pitching competition and fly to Algiers to pitch her script to African streaming platforms. Of Guinean & French descent, Djaka is the face of rebel soldier Halima Zambardi in the video game "Call of Duty" and speaks English, French & Spanish fluently.
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Djaka was born and raised in Paris, France to a Guinean Father and a French Mother. She started acting, singing & dancing at the age of six. At 17, under the direction of Claudia Stavinsky, Djaka got cast as the witty Anita in West Side Story and performed at the legendary Chatelet Theater. She spent a year at Skyline High Performing Arts Academy in Oakland, CA. Back in Paris, she pursued her training at Paris Musical Theater Academy, performed in many plays and started working in TV. At 23 years old, 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 all over 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 in plays and musicals 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, got 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.
Overseeing projects from financing to casting with financiers, producers, writers and directors, working across both documentary and narrative films, Djaka became part of the Goldcrest & Saboteur Production family. 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 the 2017 TriBeCa Film Festival. She was awarded a duPont Award for her excellence in journalistic work. She was also a co-producer on the documentary "I Want my MTV" opening at the 2019 TriBeCa Film Festival.
Most recently, Djaka starred in HULU's Black Stories Present: "Imagine a Moon Colony" and in Solange Knowles' "Nairobi", both directed by 2019 TriBeCa Film Founder Awards winner Philip Youmans. She also starred in "Words", directed by Amhalise Morgan with Nicholas Pinnock, star of ABC TV Drama "For Life."
Djaka's first short film as a writer-director, "Jazz in Wakanda", "thought-provoking and powerful story about race and identity" was selected at festivals like Urban World, Nitehawk Shorts, NFMLA, New York African Film Festival, etc, and is now streaming on TUBI/COMCAST. The film was composed of 70% women Cast & Crew. The second short film Djaka directed, "For Life", a comedy about two friends connected in life (and death) was shot with an all female-identifying Cast & Crew for the 2020 Women's Week end Film Challenge. Fierce human's rights advocate, Djaka is an advocate for equity and inclusion for women in the entertainment industry.
Djaka is the lead actress in the award-winning horror-comedy "Cut Me If You Can", directed by filmmakers Nicolas Polixene & Sylvain Loubet, currently on the festival circuit and selected at Clermont-Ferrand 2024, SCAD, Woodstock, Moscow International FF 2024, etc.. She is also a producer and actor in "Reunion", short film that qualified for the 2025 Academy Awards, directed by actress Zainab Jah & Director/DP Timothy Naylor, alongside producer Danaï Gurira & associate producer Lupita Nyong'o,
In 2023, she was selected in the CANEX/AFRIFF program "Script to Screen" to develop her first feature, and was one of the 25 pitches to win. Face of soldier Halima Zambardi in the video game "Call of Duty", Djaka speaks English, French & Spanish fluently.
Djaka has several projects in development: a mini-series around her father's life, Guinean immigrant who escaped his country in the 1970s, and her pilot script "Ainoah", about a secret society of badass multicultural women who made it to the Top 20 of 2021 Hillman Grad UNSEEN Rising Voices Program. Djaka is part of NYWIFT, Free The Work, is a Women in Film mentoring program mentee, a Blackmagic Collective Fellow and shadowed an episode of Freeform "Good Trouble" under her mentor showrunner Joanna Johnson.
Djaka's short film as a writer-director, "Jazz in Wakanda", was an Official selection at Urban World, Nitehawk Shorts, NYAFF, sold to COMCAST and is now streaming on TUBI. In 2023, she was one of 25 screenwriters to be selected in the first CANEX & AFRIFF program "Script to Screen." She was one of six screenwriters to win the pitching competition and fly to Algiers to pitch her script to African streaming platforms. Of Guinean & French descent, Djaka is the face of rebel soldier Halima Zambardi in the video game "Call of Duty" and speaks English, French & Spanish fluently.
LONG BIO
Djaka was born and raised in Paris, France to a Guinean Father and a French Mother. She started acting, singing & dancing at the age of six. At 17, under the direction of Claudia Stavinsky, Djaka got cast as the witty Anita in West Side Story and performed at the legendary Chatelet Theater. She spent a year at Skyline High Performing Arts Academy in Oakland, CA. Back in Paris, she pursued her training at Paris Musical Theater Academy, performed in many plays and started working in TV. At 23 years old, 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 all over 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 in plays and musicals 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, got 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.
Overseeing projects from financing to casting with financiers, producers, writers and directors, working across both documentary and narrative films, Djaka became part of the Goldcrest & Saboteur Production family. 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 the 2017 TriBeCa Film Festival. She was awarded a duPont Award for her excellence in journalistic work. She was also a co-producer on the documentary "I Want my MTV" opening at the 2019 TriBeCa Film Festival.
Most recently, Djaka starred in HULU's Black Stories Present: "Imagine a Moon Colony" and in Solange Knowles' "Nairobi", both directed by 2019 TriBeCa Film Founder Awards winner Philip Youmans. She also starred in "Words", directed by Amhalise Morgan with Nicholas Pinnock, star of ABC TV Drama "For Life."
Djaka's first short film as a writer-director, "Jazz in Wakanda", "thought-provoking and powerful story about race and identity" was selected at festivals like Urban World, Nitehawk Shorts, NFMLA, New York African Film Festival, etc, and is now streaming on TUBI/COMCAST. The film was composed of 70% women Cast & Crew. The second short film Djaka directed, "For Life", a comedy about two friends connected in life (and death) was shot with an all female-identifying Cast & Crew for the 2020 Women's Week end Film Challenge. Fierce human's rights advocate, Djaka is an advocate for equity and inclusion for women in the entertainment industry.
Djaka is the lead actress in the award-winning horror-comedy "Cut Me If You Can", directed by filmmakers Nicolas Polixene & Sylvain Loubet, currently on the festival circuit and selected at Clermont-Ferrand 2024, SCAD, Woodstock, Moscow International FF 2024, etc.. She is also a producer and actor in "Reunion", short film that qualified for the 2025 Academy Awards, directed by actress Zainab Jah & Director/DP Timothy Naylor, alongside producer Danaï Gurira & associate producer Lupita Nyong'o,
In 2023, she was selected in the CANEX/AFRIFF program "Script to Screen" to develop her first feature, and was one of the 25 pitches to win. Face of soldier Halima Zambardi in the video game "Call of Duty", Djaka speaks English, French & Spanish fluently.
Djaka has several projects in development: a mini-series around her father's life, Guinean immigrant who escaped his country in the 1970s, and her pilot script "Ainoah", about a secret society of badass multicultural women who made it to the Top 20 of 2021 Hillman Grad UNSEEN Rising Voices Program. Djaka is part of NYWIFT, Free The Work, is a Women in Film mentoring program mentee, a Blackmagic Collective Fellow and shadowed an episode of Freeform "Good Trouble" under her mentor showrunner Joanna Johnson.
