Kenza ZOURDANI
Actress

Kenza received a grant to help her finance her studies at the École des arts de la scène La Manufacture in Lausanne.

What is your artistic background ?
I started acting at the age of 16, at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Toulouse. The driving force behind my desire to try out theatre was, first, fun, acting and my love of the scripts. After three years at the Toulouse Conservatory, I decided to move to Paris, and I joined the Conservatory of the 6th arrondissement. Even if fun remains the major driving force in my approach to acting, the theatre takes more and more place in my life because I find in it an unshakeable freedom of expression, with words, the body, thoughts, as weapons to overcome fears. It was in Paris that I decided, after discovering stage writing and masked acting, to become an actress. After having acted in several stage productions, notably collective creations, becoming an actress seemed to me to be a necessity. However, I felt the deep need to join a national school to have a rigorous framework and to benefit from a very advanced actor's training, in an artistically committed group. To give myself the best chance, I joined the preparatory class at the Filature de Mulhouse from 2017 to 2019, supervised by Blandine Savetier. In addition to preparing for the competition, the class allowed me to practice theatre in a specific and intensive way. I was extremely well supervised, and I learnt a lot of acting tools that have become indispensable to me. At the end of the preparatory class, I entered the Royal Conservatory of Liège. I only stayed there for one year because the school's pedagogical approach and general atmosphere did not suit me. This year, after a human and artistic love-at-first-sight during auditions, I was accepted to the Manufacture de Lausanne. The school gives a great deal of space to creation and remains in touch with current contemporary theatre, thanks to the plurality of lecturers, while offering an exceptional setting and a very rigorous work environment.

How do you see your profession today ?
I think that acting requires total commitment. Being an actor means taking action, making decisions, knowing how to be radical in one's performance, in one's being, taking risks all the time. I love the continual flow that runs through the actor, the actor who juggles with her doubts, her fears, her fantasy, her rage, her madness, her joy. What fascinates me about the actor is her ability to open mental and physical spaces from her very being. It's a difficult job because it's unstable, but yes, without hesitation, it's worth it.

How do you see yourself in 5 years ? in 10 years ?
I see myself as an actress, of course, but above all as an accomplished actress who is constantly surpassing herself in various and varied roles, in collective creations and in stage writing. I would like to stay in touch with the many beautiful encounters I have had during my career, to continue to dream and to remain curious and open.

Interview conducted in 2021
Photography credit: Julia Grandperret