Rebel Moon on Netflix: who is Sofia Boutella, the star of Zack Snyder’s blockbuster?

She is the face of Zack Snyder’s space epic. Sofia Boutella takes a new step in her Hollywood rise with Rebel Moon. The one who has often appeared decked out in makeup and other crazy looks in numerous blockbusters here plays an intrepid heroine, named Kora, at war against a galactic empire.

Before that, Sofia Boutella was an alien, a mummy, a killer with blades for feet and even Charlize Theron’s lover. A curriculum vitae that demonstrates her taste for varied roles and the challenges she continues to take on.

Born in Algeria in 1982, in Bab El Oued, to a mother who was an architect and a father who was a composer and graduated from a major school, she was quickly introduced to dance and music. Sofia Boutella is infatuated with great artists like Michael Jackson and Madonna, still unaware that her path will cross theirs years later.

DANCING QUEEN

In 1992, while Algeria was going through its dark decade, she left her country and settled in France with her parents. She is only 10 years old. After dancing, she turned to gymnastics where her abilities took her to the French championship. Her discovery of hip-hop guides her towards new horizons. She joined the Vagabond Crew, a company that played a major role in the democratization of breakdancing in France.

With her teammates, Sofia Boutella performs in the street, mainly in Paris, in the Châtelet-Les Halles shopping center. His participation in the various battles earned her a little notoriety, until the day she was spotted, in 2001, by the choreographer Bianca Li. The young dancer was cast in the film Le Défi and then discovered an appetite for comedy.

It was his meeting with artistic director Jamie King in 2006 that changed his destiny. Sofia Boutella becomes the face of Nike with an advertisement seen millions of times. The choreographer introduced her to Madonna who took her on her tour, Confessions Tour.

The queen of pop becomes his mentor. She hired him in two of her video clips and asked him to perform alongside her during halftime of the SuperBowl in 2012, one of the most watched television events in the world.

One childhood dream leads to another. In 2009, she was contacted by Michael Jackson himself to join the This Is It tour. The singer’s sudden death disrupts plans. This meeting will never take place…well almost. In 2011, she played the lead role in the music video Hollywood Tonight, one of the tracks from the artist’s posthumous album.

From 2012, encouraged by Madonna, Sofia Boutella wanted to devote herself to cinema. She appears in Kingsman, Star Trek: Without Limits, Atomic Blonde, Hotel Artemis and stands up to Tom Cruise in a new version of The Mummy, a film in which she plays the title role. Each of her characters demonstrates great physical strength that she has developed throughout her life as a dancer.

Paramount Pictures/Universal Pictures/Wild Bunch International

Now an actress, she also delves into auteur cinema alongside Gaspar Noé with Climax. Here too, her talents as a performer allow her to shine on screen in this UFO which mixes dance and horror.

Today, Sofia Boutella plays the leading role of Rebel Moon, big production at more than 166 million dollars. This colossal project required three months of training and 153 days of filming. If she has already accomplished many things, the actress never stops dreaming. When AlloCiné asks her which filmmakers she would like to work with, Sofia Boutella answers Peter Greenaway and again Gaspar Noé.

“I take each project as it comes, but there are so many talented people who inspire me and genres of films that I would love to explore. I wouldn’t want to stay in the same style. That’s for sure, she says. But yes, I would like to do more independent films, work on human relationships, diversify and explore several of the characters who are different from each other.”

Comments collected by Thomas Desroches, in Paris, in December 2023.

Rebel Moon – Part 1: Child of Fire is available on Netflix.