Guslagie Malanda

Guslagie Malanda (born 1990) is a French actress and art curator. She has starred in the films My Friend Victoria (2014) and Saint Omer (2022). Life and career Raised in France, Malanda had an interest in theater and cinema from a young age. She studied art history in college and has worked in art curation since graduation. Malanda made her screen debut in 2014, playing the title role of Jean-Paul Civeyrac's My Friend Victoria. She got the part after a friend working on the film recommended that she audition. Her acting was well-received; a New York Times review noted her "pensive performance" as Victoria, a young mother who gets back in contact with the family that once took her in. However, after My Friend Victoria, Malanda went many years without acting professionally; as a Black Frenchwoman, she refused to accept roles she considered stereotypical (criminals, immigrants, terrorists, etc.), which comprised almost all the parts she was offered. During this time, while working as an art curator, Malanda considered herself "an actress in secret". In 2018, she took a minor role on an episode of the US television series The Romanoffs.