Sofia Boutella

Sofia Boutella is a dynamic Algerian-French dancer-turned-actor who began her performing career as a dancer but then turned to acting in her thirties, although she had done her first notable big-screen acting role as a voice in French animator Michel Ocelot’s French and Arabic-language fairytale film, Azur et Asmar (2006), co-starring Hiam Abbass and Patrick Timsit, and which premiered in Cannes’ Directors Fortnight competition. Boutella’s first on-screen acting role was in the British-made sci-fi monster sequel, Monsters: Dark Continent (2014), directed and co-written by Tom Green and with Johnny Harris and Sam Keeley.

Boutella had her first widely seen role as Gazelle in director/writer/producer Matthew Vaughn’s spy action comedies, Kingsmen: The Secret Service (2015) and Kingsmen: The Golden Circle (2017), featuring Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, Taron Egerton, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Elton John, Channing Tatum and Jeff Bridges, and delivering a combined $825 million gross for 20th Century Fox. Boutella joined her second franchise movie in producer J.J. Abrams and director/producer Justin Lin’s Star Trek Beyond (2016), with Chris Pine, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, and Idris Elba, grossing a mild $343.5 million for Paramount Pictures.

Sofia Boutella was cast in her biggest role to date in the indie Irish-British war drama, Tiger Raid (2016), with Brian Gleeson and Damien Molony under co-writer Simon Dixon’s direction, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and then Boutella returned to Hollywood studio productions with the failed $200 million reboot of Universal’s franchise, The Mummy (2017), starring Tom Cruise and directed by Alex Kurtzman. Boutella joined the cast of Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Til Schweiger, and Eddie Marsan in the David Leitch-directed graphic novel adaptation by Kurt Johnstad, Atomic Blonde (2017), grossing a strong $100 million for Focus Features.

Boutella returned to French cinema and teamed with the provocative filmmaker Gaspar Noe for his unique psychedelic movie produced with Wild Bunch, Climax (2018), involving a large, improvising dance ensemble in a state of LSD-spiked hysteria, and featured only one other actor, Souheila Yacoub, and which premiered in Cannes’ Directors Fortnight competition. Boutella then co-starred with Jodie Foster and Sterling K. Brown in the near-future Los Angeles thriller, Hotel Artemis (2018), with Jeff Goldblum, Brian Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day, and Dave Bautista under writer Drew Pearce’s direction, but proving to be a commercial dud for distributors Global Road and Lionsgate.

Sofia Boutella appeared as herself in the Garret Price-directed valedictory documentary on the tragically short life of the beloved actor, Anton Yelchin, Love, Antosha (2019), and his struggles with cystic fibrosis, featuring Nicholas Cage, Jodie Foster, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pine, Kristen Stewart, J.J. Abrams, John Cho, Willem Dafoe, Joe Dante, Ben Foster, Bryce Dallas Howard, Craig Gillespie, Martin Landau, Frank Langella, Jon Voight, Anya Taylor-Joy and Zoe Saldana. Boutella then co-starred with a wild Cage in Sono Sion’s elaborate dystopian adventure, Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021), with Bill Moseley, Nick Cassavetes, and Tak Sakaguchi, and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival before a brief release via RLJE Films.

Boutella joined director/writer Wyatt Rockefeller for the sci-fi thriller Settlers (2021), with Brooklyn Prince, Nell Tiger Free, and Jonny Lee Miller and premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival before a short IFC Midnight release, followed by Boutella reuniting with director/producer Matthew Vaughn and reviving her role as Gazelle as part of the sprawling ensemble of the spy action comedy and Kingman franchise spinoff, Argylle (2024), starring Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, John Cena and Samuel L. Jackson, proving to be a massive commercial and critical bomb for Universal Pictures and Apple Original Films, with a paltry $96 million global return for the $200 million picture.

Boutella joined director/writer/producer Zack Snyder in the lead role of a warrior (with Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Anthony Hopkins, and Cary Elwes) in another problematic commercial release, Snyder’s sequel Rebel Moon—Part Two: The Scargiver (2024), which had a brief theatrical run by Netflix before streaming.

Sofia Boutella co-starred in another muscular role with Dave Bautista in The Killer’s Game (2024), based on Jay Bonansinga’s 1997 novel, with Terry Crews, Pom Klementieff, and Ben Kingsley under J.J. Perry’s direction for Lionsgate. Boutella joined famed photographer artist-turned-debuting director/co-writer Alex Prager for the thriller DreamQuil (EDIT NOTE: Quil has one L!) (date to be announced) co-starring John C. Reilly, Elizabeth Banks, Juliette Lewis, and Kathryn Newton, and released by Republic Pictures/HanWay Films. Boutella joined another prominent artist, legendary filmmaker Peter Greenaway, for his Italian-set drama, Lucca Mortis (date to be announced), starring Dustin Hoffman, Helen Hunt, Giacomo Gianniotti, Laura Morante, and Jun Ichikawa.