Judy DIALLO
Actor

Judy received a grant to help him study at the Théâtre national de Strasbourg.

What is your artistic background?
Acting was my doorway into the world of art. In 2014, a year and a half after arriving in France, I met Thomas Bardinet in my suburb. He is a director who graduated from IDHEC (the former name of La Fémis). He had founded the association ABC – Atelier de Bricolage Cinématographique (a filmmaking workshop) – at the M270, a cultural centre in Floirac, and offered the same workshop at Collège Nelson Mandela, the school I attended. On the first day, no student showed up. Thomas came down to the schoolyard and asked me to follow him. I said yes, and that is how I found myself in front of a camera for the first time. In that suburb where nothing on the horizon spoke to me, I found my path thanks to Thomas. From Year 7 to Year 10, I worked with him at the M270: mostly acting, with some technical training. We made short films and took part in festivals. At the same time, I attended improvisation workshops. A year after finishing secondary school, in 2017, I joined the first class of Cours Florent Bordeaux. There, I directed my first short film : Papa, Maman, Bérénice et moi. Over three years of training, I wrote, read, and created. After Cours Florent, I passed the entrance exam for the Conservatoire de Lyon (PPES-COP), where I studied for two years. During my second year, I joined the young company Azimuts, founded by director Adama Diop. I then auditioned for France's national drama schools. I was accepted at both ERACM (École régionale d'acteurs de Cannes et Marseille) and TNS (Théâtre National de Strasbourg). I chose TNS, where I am currently training.

My name is Mamadou Judy Diallo, son of Clarisse Fradet and Assane Diallo. I am someone who often belongs to no country – and who sometimes has two.

How do you view your profession today?
To answer this, I prefer to borrow someone else's words: «When mythologies crumble, it is in poetry that the divine finds refuge — perhaps even its relay. And even in the social order and the immediacy of human affairs, when the bread-bearers of the ancient procession give way to the torch-bearers, it is from the poetic imagination that the high passion of peoples in search of light still catches fire." Saint-John Perse

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years?
Wherever I choose to be. I am convinced I can accomplish anything. Nothing can stop me – not permanently. My mother told me: "Human beings are capable of making all their dreams come true. Dreams do come true. Look at me."
So in 5 or 10 years, I might be running a Centre dramatique national or perhaps serving as Minister of Culture in Senegal.
For the past year, I have been developing my own theatre company, which will be called Navire Négrière (The Slave Ship). Its mission: to remind us that we are all, in one way or another, affected by slavery and colonialism, and that we are still living with the direct consequences of this history. We are all aboard this ship, without exception.
The question the company asks: What do we do with all of this? What have we done with it so far, and what will we do with it tomorrow? How do we move forward through days still burdened by the remnants of the past? By learning together, by turning suffering into strength. To build the company's vision, I draw on the concept of Ubuntu, a Bantu word highlighted by philosopher Souleymane Bachir Diagne, meaning "to create humanity together." This will be the backbone of the Navire Négrière company. Today, it is still a small boat. In five or ten years, it will be a ship and we will invite you aboard to think about this "us" together.

Interview conducted in 2025
Photographs taken in 2025 by Isabelle Chapuis