Acting

Roukiata Ouedraogo

Roukiata Ouedraogo (born 1979) is a Burkinabé playwright, actress and comedian. She grew up in Fada N'Gourma, the daughter of a civil servant. Her father had been involved in the local theater scene and was a friend and soccer teammates with noted actor Sotigui Kouyaté. Her uncle is the Mossi chief of Soumiaga. At a young age, Ouedraogo moved to Ouagadougou to continue her education. In high school, she joined her local theater troupe and toured the country. To earn some money, she opened a small hairdressing salon near her home and designed clothes. After receiving her baccalaureate, Ouedraogo moved to Paris in 2000, where her older brother was living. She had several odd jobs, and was fired as a cashier at a mini-market because she confused francs with CFA francs. She worked as a make-up artist and model for several years. In 2007, Ouedraogo decided to focus her attention on the theatre and was accepted to Cours Florent after an audition. As part of her classwork, she wrote and directed her first play, Yennenga, the epic of the Mossé. After an enthusiastic reception from her instructors, the play was first staged at the Comédie de la Passerelle theater in 2008. It is based on one of the founding myths in Burkina Faso, and Ouedraogo played the starring role of an 11th-century princess. According to her, writing the play helped her deal with the grief of losing her father and brother.